The bitter war of words between Nigel Farage and Reform MP Rupert Lowe has dramatically escalated with the pair launching fierce new personal attacks on each other.

Mr Farage revealed accusations of bullying by Mr Lowe and accused him of falling out with all his fellow Reform UK MPs, with too many “outbursts” using “inappropriate language”.

And he took the highly unusual step of quoting a Labour minister, Mike Kane, who said after a confrontation with Mr Lowe in the Commons that his anger “showed a man not in charge of his own faculties”.

On Friday, party chairman and Farage lieutenant Zia Yusuf and chief whip Lee Anderson MP disclosed accusations that two female workers had complained of “serious bullying” in Mr Lowe’s offices, and said he had been reported to police over allegations he threatened Mr Yusuf with physical violence.

Mr Lowe, who has been suspended by the parliamentary party, denied the claims.

The worsening of the feud between the Reform UK leader and the millionaire MP for Great Yarmouth came in articles in The Sunday Telegraph in which they both furiously attacked each other.

Lowe alleges ‘witch hunt’

Mr Lowe stepped up his verbal onslaught on Mr Farage by claiming that a “witch hunt” against him risked destroying Reform’s attempts at removing Labour from power.

And he claimed that at a time when Reform UK’s poll ratings were rising the attacks on him by the party would be a turn-off to voters, declaring: “Infighting failed the Tories – and it’s failing Reform.”

Mr Farage also began his Telegraph article by claiming: “If the last general election taught us anything, it is that the public does not like political parties that engage in constant infighting.”

But he claimed that thanks to Mr Lowe “unloading a barrage of criticisms against our operations and its main actors”, Reform’s unity has been dented.

‘Containment strategies invariably fail’

Mr Farage said Mr Lowe had “managed to fall out with all his parliamentary colleagues in one way or another”, adding: “We did our best to keep a lid on things but, in the end, containment strategies invariably fail.”

He then referred to a Commons clash with Mr Kane just before Christmas, after Mr Lowe staged a debate about a damaged ship containing toxic cargo docked in his Great Yarmouth constituency.

“Mr Lowe was unhappy with the answer that he received from Mr Kane and, at the end of the debate, he crossed the floor to make his feelings known,” Mr Farage wrote.

“A confrontation ensued. Heated language was heard. The minister’s shoulder was pushed. In the end, the Serjeant at Arms had to step in to calm things down between the two parliamentarians.

“Commenting on Mr Lowe’s conduct later, Mr Kane (said) ‘the anger displayed towards me clearly showed a man not in charge of his own faculties’. Nobody in Reform UK said anything publicly about what had happened. Instead, we carried on.

“Yet the fact is that, sadly, there have been too many similar outbursts from Mr Lowe, often involving the use of inappropriate language, to the despair of our chief whip, Lee Anderson.

“I have been surprised and saddened at this behaviour. Certainly, I never saw anything like it in the European Parliament in 2019 when I was the leader of the Brexit Party and Mr Lowe was an MEP colleague.”

Read more:
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On bullying allegations, Mr Farage wrote: “Last week, the chairman of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, showed me two letters sent by female members of staff to our party headquarters. Each letter contained an accusation of workplace bullying involving Mr Lowe.

“One of the incidents in question is alleged to have taken place within the parliamentary estate. Both women’s letters stated that these allegations had been reported to the parliamentary authorities.

“As a responsible political party, Reform UK has a duty of care to every single member of staff, whether they are employed by us directly or indirectly.

“With that in mind, I believe that our chairman was entirely right for Reform to appoint a KC to conduct an independent inquiry. It is inconceivable that we could simply ignore such allegations.”

‘I will not tolerate these falsehoods’

In his Telegraph article, Mr Lowe repeated his claim that there is no credible evidence against him and he was removed from the party before any investigation had started.

“I will not tolerate these falsehoods, and discussions have already taken place with my legal team,” he wrote. “Is it a surprise that these allegations were made public the day after I made reasonable criticisms of Nigel Farage and the Reform leadership?

“It is a witch hunt, plain for all to see. I have been entirely frozen out of the Reform machine over the last few months, in a deliberate and calculated way.”

Without naming Mr Farage, deputy leader Richard Tice or Mr Yusuf, he said the Reform UK leadership was unable even to accept the most mild constructive criticism.

Turning on Mr Yusuf, he wrote: “The allegations against me from the chairman relate to an incident in December, but he only reported them to the police the day after my reasonable questioning was published.

“Take from that what you will. I don’t feel sorry for myself. I feel sorry for the millions of decent British men and women who put their faith in Reform. They deserve better than this vicious charade.”

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And warning of the damage the feuding was causing, Mr Lowe said: “Everything has been put at risk. Everything. The future of the Right in Britain is now in peril. How can Reform claim to be a party awaiting government when they can’t even follow basic process?

“Reform has been rising in the polls for months. But this spectre of infighting will leave the party looking unserious and turn voters off. Infighting failed the Tories – and it’s failing Reform.”

But Mr Lowe concluded with an olive branch. “On multiple occasions, I have invited Nigel Farage for dinner over the last few months,” he revealed. “Every single one has been refused or ignored.

“Again, I offer a public invitation to Nigel. Let’s have dinner and resolve this in the matter that our members, supporters and country would expect. Any time, any place.”

He added: “I want Reform to be professional, to be fair, to be serious. We must offer a credible alternative to the uniparty that has so failed so spectacularly.

“The leadership’s behaviour this week has undermined that cause, not only in the eyes of the electorate, but also in those of serious individuals across business and industry that any party of government needs to win over.”

Negotiators at Westminster have been trying to persuade a man to come down after he scaled the clock tower which houses Big Ben.

The barefoot man has been spoken to by emergency crews and negotiators a number of times during the day but he remains several metres up the Elizabeth Tower on a ledge where he is holding a Palestinian flag in an apparent protest.

The Metropolitan Police said they were called to the scene in central London at 7.24am on Saturday.

Photographs have shown the man sat on the ledge with the flag and a keffiyeh, a headdress worn by men in the Middle East, wrapped around the decorative stonework on the tower.

A large red stain which appears to be blood can be seen on the side of the tower around the climber’s feet.

Following the security breach at Parliament, a fire engine later raised an aerial ladder platform to the same height as the man’s position.

Three people standing on the platform have been talking to the man, who is several feet away.

Climber shares videos on social media

The climber has been sharing videos on Instagram from his viewpoint on the tower.

He tells negotiators he will come down “on his own terms”.

In the footage, negotiators appear to raise concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there is “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes are not warm enough as temperatures drop after sunset.

But the man insists he is safe and says: “I will come down on my own terms, I have said this. But right now I am saying I am safe.

“If you come towards me you are putting me in danger and I will climb higher.”

Also in a video, a woman in plain clothes says: “At some point you have to come down. How long do you think you are going to be there? How long do you think you are able to be there?”

Her voice is then barely audible as she appears to say “your message was to say ‘Free Palestine'” before she encourages him to come down.

In one of the other videos, the man seems to suggest he plans to stay on the ledge for three and a half days.

The whole of Westminster Bridge was closed later in the morning as emergency services responded to the incident.

And parliamentary tours on Saturday were cancelled.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Officers are at the scene working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. They are being assisted by the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service.”

Bridge Street, which is at the north end of Westminster Bridge, has been closed to allow emergency services to deal with the incident.

At least nine emergency service vehicles have lined the street in central London as crowds look on from beyond a police cordon.

A parliamentary spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident on the Parliamentary Estate this morning, which is being handled by the Metropolitan Police, assisted by the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service.

“Parliament takes security extremely seriously, however we do not comment on the specifics of our security measures or mitigations. As a result of this incident, tours of the Parliamentary Estate today have unfortunately had to be cancelled.”

It comes as dozens of people gathered for a pro-Palestinian protest in London.

The crowd assembled on the corner of Parliament Square and appeared to be showing support for the man who climbed up Big Ben.

Trump’s Turnberry golf course vandalised

The protest in Westminster comes as the Palestine Action group said it had sprayed “Gaza is not for sale” on Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland.

Sharing an image of the vandalism on Saturday morning, the group wrote on X: “Whilst Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his own property, he should know his own property is within reach.”

The Turnberry protest comes after the American president claimed the US will “take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too”.

The HD arm of Hyundai has just released the first official images of the new, battery-electric HX19e mini excavator – the first ever production electric excavator from the global South Korean manufacturer.

The HX19e will be the first all-electric asset to enter series production at Hyundai Construction Equipment, with manufacturing set to begin this April.

The new HX19e will be offered with either a 32 kWh or 40 kWh li-ion battery pack – which, according to Hyundai, is nearly double the capacity offered by its nearest competitor (pretty sure that’s not correct –Ed.). The 40kWh battery allows for up to 6 hours and 40 minutes of continuous operation between charges, with a break time top-up on delivering full shift usability.

Those batteries send power to a 13 kW (17.5 hp) electric motor that drives an open-center hydraulic system. Hyundai claims the system delivers job site performance that is at least equal to, if not better than, that of its diesel-powered HX19A mini excavator.

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To that end, the Hyundai XH19e offers the same 16 kN bucket breakout force and a slightly higher 9.4 kN (just over 2100 lb-ft) dipper arm breakout force. The maximum digging depth is 7.6 feet, and the maximum digging reach is 12.9 feet. Hyundai will offer the new electric excavator with just four selectable options:

• enclosed cab vs. open canopy
• 32 or 40 kWh battery capacity

All HX19es will ship with a high standard specification that includes safety valves on the main boom, dipper arm, and dozer blade hydraulic cylinders, as well as two-way auxiliary hydraulic piping allows the machine to be used with a range of commercially available implements. The hydraulics needed to operate a quick coupler, LED booms lights, rotating beacons, an MP3 radio with USB connectivity, and an operator’s seat with mechanical suspension are also standard.

Like its counterparts at Volvo CE, the new Hyundai excavator uses automotive-style charging ports to take advantage of existing infrastructure at fleet depots and public charging stations. More detailed specifications, dimensions, and pricing should be announced by bauma.

Electrek’s Take

The ability to operate indoors, underground, or in environments like zoos and hospitals were keeping noise levels down is of critical importance to the success of an operation makes electric equipment assets like these coming from Hyundai a must-have for fleet operators and construction crews that hope to remain competitive in the face of ever-increasing noise regulations. The fact that these are cleaner, safer, and cheaper to operate is just icing on that cake.

SOURCE | IMAGES: HD Hyundai; via Construction Index, Equipment World.