Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns says Nigel Farage’s row with Rupert Lowe was ‘clearly a big falling out’ – but insists it will ‘blow over’
Reform UK’s most senior woman has told Sky News the Rupert Lowe row “doesn’t look great” and she doesn’t “want to see it in the news any more days”.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who defected to Reform last year, accepted it was “clearly a big falling out” but suggested these spats do not always cut through to the public.
She insisted she was concentrating on winning as she looks to become the party’s first ever mayor in May.
In an interview with Sky News, Dame Andrea also spoke for the first time about her experience of domestic abuse, denying Reform has a “woman problem” but accepted “we need to start talking more about issues, what women are interested in”.
Having lost her seat as a Conservative in the 2024 election, Dame Andrea briefly quit politics only to return earlier this year as Reform’s newest recruit.
She is now standing as the party’s candidate to become the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor, in a race that psephologists think could be Reform’s best hope of turning itself from a party of protest into one that is governing.
That’s because Reform is on the march in Lincolnshire, which is a key battleground between the Conservatives and Reform in the local and mayoral elections in May.
Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, took the Conservative seat of Boston and Skegness in the last election as Reform came second in a further two of the county’s eight constituencies.
Dame Andrea spoke to Sky News’ Beth Rigby
This farming country has long been part of the patchwork of Conservative England and it is in these heartlands that Reform hopes it can land a significant blow to its political rivals in the coming weeks.
“It’s a worry,” admits one Labour insider who doesn’t much relish the prospect of having to deal with a newly minted Reform party mayor should Dame Andrea win in May against Labour candidate Jason Stockwood, the Conservative Rob Waltham and independent Marianne Overton.
There is also the Lincolnshire council race, which Reform is targeting. All 70 seats are up for grabs and the Conservatives, which have a 38-seat majority, are defending 53 seats. The only way is up for Reform here, while the Conservatives, who have held this council for 10 of the past 13 elections, are bracing for a drubbing.
Tories say Jenkyns is from Yorkshire
The Conservatives make the point that they have a “strong local candidate who is born and bred in Lincolnshire, whereas Dame Andrea is from Yorkshire” when I ask them about the race.
“We are fighting hard, we have a proven track record of delivery in charge of local services whereas Reform aren’t tried and tested,” the Conservatives said.
“And if they’re anything like Reform nationally, who don’t turn up on important votes, then they won’t show up for people locally.”
Dame Andrea is still based in Yorkshire where she used to be an MP, as this is where her son attends school. But she rents a place in Lincolnshire and has vowed to move to the county should she win the mayoralty.
She also points out that she grew up in Lincolnshire and was a local councillor before moving to Yorkshire after her shock victory over Ed Balls in the 2015 general election.
Read more:
Rupert Lowe consulting lawyers over libel action
Police launch investigation into Rupert Lowe over ‘verbal threats’
Dame Andrea is hoping to become Reform’s first mayor
‘Fed up’ farmers eyeing Reform
When we meet her on the road in Lincolnshire, she takes us to meet some farmers whose livelihoods are under intense pressure – be it over local flooding and flood defences or changes to inheritance tax and farming subsidies that are affecting their farms.
There is little love for Labour in the gathering of farmers, who in the main seem to be lapsed Conservative voters that are now eyeing Reform, as a number of them tell me how they are fed up with how the Environment Agency and local politicians are running their area.
“We’re fed up with all of them,” said one farmer.
“We just want some action. As farmers we know drainage is so important, we just want to get it sorted.”
They are also alarmed and anxious about the inheritance tax changes introduced by Labour and are pressing for carve-outs for small farms handed down from generation to generation amid fears they will have to sell up to pay the inheritance tax bills.
But the troubles at the top of Reform hadn’t gone unnoticed by this group. Unprompted, one of the farmers raised the row between the suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe and the party leadership, telling Dame Andrea that while he “really likes Reform” he doesn’t much like what he’s seeing at the moment.
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Reform UK row explained
‘Spat looks worse because Reform is small’
The farmer said: “I don’t follow politics avidly. But I just look and say [Rupert Lowe] is full of common sense and I really like him and I don’t know what’s happened, but it looks from outside [he has been] chucked under the bus.
“And I’m like, am I getting second thoughts about Reform? I don’t know what’s gone on, but it concerns me about what’s going on with Reform.”
Dame Andrea tries to downplay it and says the “spat” looks worse because it’s a smaller party.
“To me it’s about the movement, the right policies, to carry on. What is the alternative? This will blow over and Reform will keep getting strong,” she said.
Can Jenkyns and Farage co-exist?
Dame Andrea would clearly like the infighting to stop, but it raises questions for me about how she will fit into this very male-dominated party, in which all four MPs are male, with Dame Andrea the only senior woman beyond the former Conservative minister Ann Widdicombe.
She is, like Nigel Farage, a disrupter – Dame Andrea was one of the first Tories to call for Theresa May and Rishi Sunak to stand down, and a conviction politician who fervently backed Boris Johnson and Brexit.
If she does win this mayoral race she will be a big personality in Reform alongside Farage, which leaves me wondering if they can co-exist in a party already at war.
Dame Andrea says she doesn’t think the party has a ‘woman problem’
Jenkyns was in an abusive relationship
Reform does struggle with female voters, with fewer women voting for the party against all age cohorts, young to old. Dame Andrea tells me she doesn’t think the party has a “woman problem”, but she does think it needs to talk about more issues that she thinks women are interested in, citing education, special educational needs and mental health.
When I raise the matter of violence against women and how the party has handled revelations that one of its own MPs was jailed in a youth detention centre as a teenager for assaulting his girlfriend, Dame Andrea reveals to me she has been in an abusive relationship.
“I know how it can break you. I know how you sort of start losing your identity. So I’ve been on that side,” she said.
“And I’ve also helped constituents to fight against this, so it matters, we need to do more in society because whether it’s men or women, one is too much in my view.”
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Out on the campaign trail, even in the Labour territory of Lincoln where Hamish Falconer is the local MP, Dame Andrea gets a warm welcome. She tells me she thinks she can win it: “I might be living in blind hope here. But I’ve got that feeling.”
This corner of England has become a test bed for Reform to see if it can turn from a party of protest into one that has a shot at governing in the form of a regional mayor.
If Reform can succeed in that – what might come next? It would be a remarkable comeback for Dame Andrea and a remarkable victory for Reform too.
US President Donald Trump will host a gala dinner for top holders of his Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin despite bipartisan criticism and renewed calls for impeachment.
In a May 5 Truth Social post, Trump announced that he will hold a gala dinner with major TRUMP holders on May 22. The announcement follows multiple US lawmakers expressing concern over the initiative.
In late April, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called on government officials to address questions related to Trump’s memecoin and his media company. Controversies grew after Trump announced a dinner and White House tour for some holders of his TRUMP memecoin.
“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” a letter co-signed by California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff read.
A call for impeachment over a memecoin
Also in late April, Senator Jon Ossoff expressed support for impeaching Trump during an April 25 town hall, citing the president’s plan to host the dinner for top TRUMP memecoin holders. He said:
“When the sitting president of the United States is selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him. There is no question that that rises to the level of an impeachable offense.”
Pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis and at least one other Republican in Congress were reportedly also critical of Trump for offering the top holders of his memecoin a dinner and White House tour. Lummis, of Wyoming, reportedly said that the US president offering exclusive access to himself and the White House for people willing to pay for it “gives [her] pause.”
In a May 4 post on X, Warren claimed the Trump family’s stablecoin surged in market value due to a “shady crypto deal with the United Arab Emirates,” which involved settling the investment using USD1. She argued this raised serious national security concerns and warned against the Senate passing crypto-friendly legislation.
Warren expressed concerns around foreign involvement in the US president’s finances. She also suggested that the Senate should refrain from approving pro-crypto bills:
“The Senate shouldn’t pass a crypto bill this week to facilitate this kind of corruption.“
Related: America’s crypto renaissance is already failing; but we can fix it
“These safeguards address Warren’s concerns by prioritizing transparency and accountability without stifling legitimate stablecoin development. They might ensure the U.S. remains a hub for responsible innovation while protecting against misuse by public officials or foreign actors.“
Warren’s post included a clip from a recent interview during which Trump gave conflicting answers to whether he has profited from the crypto memecoin he launched in January, just days before he reentered the White House. During the clip, the president claims not to have “even looked” to check whether he profited off his endeavours.
Related: Elizabeth Warren joins call for probe of Trump over crypto tokens
The United Arab Emirates deal
Warren was likely referring to the recent deal that saw Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX use USD1 to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. According to CoinMarketCap data, the stablecoin’s market cap shot up from under $137 million on May 1 to nearly $2.13 billion on May 2.
Eric Trump announced the deal during a panel discussion at Token2049 in Dubai. Trump, the son of the president, serves as executive vice president of the Trump Organization. He said during the event:
“The US is seeing that the financial world has to progress. It’s a joke. Why do banks run nine to five, Monday to Friday, with an hour and a half of lunch break? It doesn’t make sense.”
Much like the memecoin, the USD1 stablecoin also attracted its fair share of criticism. In early April, some US lawmakers went as far as to allege that Trump wanted to replace the US dollar with USD1.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Opinion by: Shane Molidor, Founder, Forgd
For years, launching a crypto project in the United States has been a maze of uncertainty. Legal ambiguity and a hostile regulatory environment have driven founders offshore, turning places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands into global hubs for blockchain innovation.
With Trump’s election, things finally started to change, with a US administration openly declaring its intention to be crypto-friendly. Yet, despite the rhetoric, nothing concrete has changed so far.
Launching a crypto project in the US is just as difficult as ever. US regulatory agencies continue to offer nothing but vague threats and “regulation by enforcement” lawsuits. America wants to be a leader in crypto, but, even under the Trump administration, it isn’t taking action to create the conditions that would make that happen.
Killing crypto in America
Every crypto project faces the same fundamental problem: Achieving decentralization is critical to avoid regulatory scrutiny, but until a project launches its token, a degree of centralization is unavoidable.
The SEC’s outdated Howey test ensures that nearly every legitimate crypto project gets classified as a security. The logic is self-defeating. Projects can’t decentralize without launching a token, but launching a token in the US instantly puts them in the SEC’s crosshairs.
This isn’t just a theoretical issue; it has real consequences. Liquidity providers, essential for all new token launches, won’t engage with US-based projects because they assume their tokens will be classified as securities. Centralized exchanges refuse to list tokens issued from US entities for the same reason. Even decentralized exchanges face pressure from their legal teams to avoid actively seeding liquidity for American projects. The result? US founders are boxed out of the global crypto economy before they even get started.
Offshore jurisdictions are winning
This regulatory failure has spawned an entire cottage industry of offshore legal firms specializing in setting up token-issuing entities. With its FINMA no-action letter system, Switzerland has become a hotbed for crypto projects because it offers one of the few structured ways to get legal clarity on a token’s classification. The Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands have also established themselves as crypto safe havens, providing flexible corporate structures that allow projects to operate with far less regulatory risk.
Recent: US Treasury wants to cut off Huione over ties to crypto crime
The absurdity is that the actual work — the development, the hiring, the innovation — still happens in the US. The token issuance gets pushed offshore via “Associations” and “Foundations,” which serve non-profits operating independently of US-based development shops. American founders are forced to funnel money into unnecessary legal fees, overseas operators, and shell foundations to avoid the inevitable crackdown from US regulators. This isn’t just bad for crypto; it’s bad for America. Until it can be solved, the US will continue to hemorrhage talent, investment, and influence to less myopic jurisdictions.
Make America crypto-friendly
The US has spent years fumbling crypto policy, and now, even with an administration that claims to be pro-crypto, it’s still failing to deliver real change. The solution isn’t to promise capital gains tax exemptions on crypto, as some have suggested. That does little to ameliorate the punishing regulatory landscape US-based projects are forced to navigate. If the US truly wants to lead in crypto, it also must take the lead in providing regulatory clarity.
That means finally recognizing that the same regulations that have governed traditional financial markets can’t always be applied to crypto. The Howey test doesn’t work. Instead, the government must provide a new and functional legal framework for the crypto industry.
It’s time for US legislators and regulators to acknowledge that crypto tokens can’t achieve decentralization instantaneously and almost always require the efforts of a team of core contributors to bootstrap initial growth and development. The federal government must devise a version of the Howey test that does not automatically classify every new crypto token as a security but instead allows tokens a grace period to decentralize. In conjunction with this, the US must establish new protections to ensure insiders aren’t unduly benefiting from crypto projects while they scale.
In addition to swiftly ending the “regulation by enforcement” approach employed under Gary Gensler’s SEC, a tactic seemingly designed to gradually smother crypto activity in the US, the government must provide clear guidelines. It needs to be feasible for market makers to evaluate whether US tokens are commodities or securities with a degree of stability and predictability. This is the only way to end the blanket bans market makers have placed on US tokens and bring crypto development back to America.
America’s window of opportunity is closing
Crypto founders aren’t waiting for Washington to figure it out. Every day, without clear regulations, more crypto projects are incorporated offshore. The US doesn’t even need to “embrace” crypto. It just needs to stop actively driving it away.
If this administration truly wants to make the US the leader in crypto, it needs to move beyond campaign slogans and start fixing the fundamental problems that forced this industry offshore in the first place. And it needs to act fast.
Opinion by: Shane Molidor, Founder, Forgd.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s digital identity project World, formerly Worldcoin, is facing challenges in Indonesia amid local regulators temporarily suspending its registration certificates.
The Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Digital (Komdigi) has halted the Electronic System Operator Certificate Registration (TDPSE) for World and World ID over suspicious activity and alleged registration violations, the authority announced on May 4.
After the suspension, Komdigi plans to summon World’s local subsidiaries, PT Terang Bulan Abadi and PT Sandina Abadi Nusantara, to provide clarification on the alleged violations, it said.
According to a preliminary investigation, World’s PT Terang Bulan Abadi was allegedly operating without TDPSE, while PT Sandina Abadi Nusantara — the one World was using for providing its services — is allegedly involved in legal misrepresentation.
Indonesian law requires registration by all digital service providers
In the statement, Komdigi emphasized that all digital service providers in Indonesia must receive electronic registration in accordance with local laws.
Additionally, using another entity’s registration is considered a major breach of Indonesian digital operations law, the authority noted.
“Worldcoin services are recorded using TDPSE in the name of another legal entity, namely PT Sandina Abadi Nusantara,” Alexander Sabar, the Komdigi’s director general for digital supervision, said in the announcement, adding:
“Noncompliance with registration obligations and the use of the identity of another legal entity to carry out digital services is a serious violation.”
Community action required
According to Sabar, World’s temporary suspension in Indonesia is a measure taken to prevent potential risks to the community.
He mentioned that the digital ministry is committed to overseeing the digital ecosystem fairly and strictly to ensure the security of the national digital space.
A proper supervision would require active participation from the community, Sabar added, stating:
“We invite the public to help maintain a safe and trusted digital space for all citizens. Komdigi also appeals to the public to remain vigilant against unauthorized digital services, and to immediately report suspected violations through the official public complaint channel.”
In the meantime, the community has apparently been divided over action by Komdigi.
“Good job Indonesia — at least somebody is standing up to that scam,” one commentator wrote on Reddit.
Related: From digital identity to outer space: Projects push crypto use cases
Others fired back, hinting at potential benefits stemming from World’s offering in Indonesia for the general public.
“If giving up your iris biometrics means you can feed your loved ones for a few weeks, that might be a trade worth making. In the end, it all depends on what matters most to you,” another Redditor said.
World’s latest news from Indonesia follows World’s debut in the United States in May 2025, with the platform rolling out its digital identity tech in six cities initially.
A number of global regulators were pushing back on World’s operations since its launch in July 2023, with governments like Germany, Kenya and Brazil expressing concerns over potential risks to the security of biometric data passed by users.
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