Who is Rupert Lowe, the MP Elon Musk thinks could replace Nigel Farage as Reform UK leader?

Elon Musk has said he believes Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe would make a better leader of the Reform party than Nigel Farage. Credit: PA
Rupert Lowe was elected the MP for Great Yarmouth in July. Credit: PA

When Rupert Lowe arrived in Parliament in July last year, it was with a degree of swagger - strutting in as the new MP for Great Yarmouth alongside the four other MPs to have won seats for Reform UK.

Standing centre stage that day, however, was Nigel Farage, the leader and undisputed figurehead of a party which had claimed more than 14% of the vote nationally.

But an intervention from the world's richest man Elon Musk may be set to move 67-year-old Mr Lowe out of the shadow of the Clacton MP.

Elon Musk has appeared to endorse the Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe to become party leader of Reform UK Credit: PA

The South African-born owner of the social media platform X on Sunday withdrew his support for Mr Farage, whom he said "doesn't have what it takes" - and appeared to throw his weight behind Mr Lowe as a potential successor.

"I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense," he posted.

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Elected as an MP for the coastal town of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk at the general election, Mr Lowe's victory was one of the trickier constituency wins for Reform UK.

His task was to overturn a Tory majority of more than 17,000 votes in a seat which traditionally had been a three-way split.

With Labour coming second and the Tories third, for Reform to have won in Yarmouth was arguably a trickier task.

Reform's Rupert Lowe became the MP from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk in July 2024. Credit: PA Credit: PA

The former business leader had set out his stall as a political outsider before the election.

Speaking to ITV News Anglia in the run-up to the vote, he argued for the importance of politicians bringing real-life experience to bear in the Commons, saying: "I think we are as a country in need of some proper people from outside of the political establishment."

  • Watch Rob Setchell's report on the choice of candidates facing Great Yarmouth voters at the General Election

As well as having a banking and finance background in the City of London, Mr Lowe was chairman of Southampton Football Club between 1996 and 2006 and again from 2008 to 2009, during which time the team competed in the Premier League and reached an FA Cup Final in 2003.

Rupert Lowe holds a shirt aloft with Harry Redknapp on the day the football manager agrees to become the boss of Southampton FC. Credit: PA Credit: PA

After more than a decade at the helm of the south coast club, Mr Lowe left the club, having overseen the building of a new 32,000-seater stadium - something he described as an "engine" to power its future.

Rupert Lowe was chairman of Premier League side Southampton from 1996 to 2006. Credit: PA Credit: PA

He retains many other business interests outside of politics including holding shares in various organisations - a gold mining company in Western Australia, an online pet insurer, and a manufacturer of heat pumps to name a few are all listed on Parliament's Register of Interests.

Mr Lowe did have a brief political career as a Brexit Party MEP in the Midlands - he was elected in 2019 for just six months before the UK's MEPs found themselves out of a job due to Brexit.

Rupert Lowe spent six months as an MEP before losing his job due to Brexit. Credit: PA Credit: PA

Since becoming an MP - upon which he announced he would give his parliamentary salary to charity - he has been perhaps more vocal online than in person, frequently posting on X.

A Brexiteer, Mr Lowe has been forthright in his views on immigration, posting recently that "Open borders put British women in danger".

Last week, as Mr Musk attacked the government over its handling of grooming gangs, Mr Lowe posted: "We must stop harbouring foreign nationals who viscerally hate Britain, who commit serious crimes, who rape our children. If that means being insulted as 'racist'? Then so be it, the word has lost all real meaning. It should be in no way controversial to deport these people."

Mr Musk simply replied to his post: "Yes."

In Parliament, Mr Lowe has taken part in debates on SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] in the East of England, and asked questions on fishing and farming in the House of Commons.

In November, he generated headlines when he demanded reparations from China for the release of what he called the "man-made" Covid-19 virus.

MPs are also allowed to ask written questions of government departments and Rupert Lowe has probably asked more than any other MP - 632 in six months.

That's around 10 for each parliamentary sitting day since the election.

In response to Mr Musk's intervention, when questioned by ITV News Anglia, Mr Lowe indicated he was flattered to be considered leadership material.

However, he says he is very much backing Nigel Farage as party leader, saying he just wants to do what is right for his country and his constituency.

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