Scotland Yard has launched a probe into the 67-year-old politician after a complaint was made about his conduct towards chairman Zia Yusuf

Mr Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, was suspended and also accused of bullying on Friday – the day after accusing party leader Nigel Farage of acting like a ‘messiah’ in a Daily Mail interview

In a statement on Friday, Reform said Mr Lowe had been reported to the police over alleged ‘threats of physical violence’ towards party chairman Zia Yusuf

It came amid claims Elon Musk could bankroll a new party to rival Reform UK and may recruit Mr Lowe as its leader.

The world’s richest man is said to be mulling over financing for a new outfit.

Musk, who was linked with a £100m donation to Reform in December, publicly criticised its leader in January and suggested Lowe would make a good replacement.

The Farage/Lowe row has since turned into a major public spectacle weeks before Reform is due to challenge Labour in a key by-election in Runcorn and Helsby after disgraced MP Mike Amesbury said he will quit the Commons after punching a constituent.

And the power may not be with Farage. A new poll from YouGov today shows one-in-three Reform voters (33 per cent) believe the party would do better with a different leader.

A second shows Reform is down two points overall – as is Labour – after a difficult week for its politicians in the UK and its international allies.

Mr Lowe used an interview with the Dan Wootton Outspoken programme to admit he had been in contact with Musk, though it has been limited to ‘a little bit of DM’ing on Twitter, not big, a thumbs up or whatever, and he retweets quite a lot of what we put on Twitter, or on X’.

‘That’s the extent of it. There is no more to it or less to it than that,’ he said.

He suggested he was suspended by Reform UK for being a ‘tall poppy’ who threatened to overshadow Nigel Farage, adding that the leader ‘tends to fall out with’ people whom he deems ‘capable enough to take over from him’.

Elon Musk was linked with a £100million donation to the party at the start of the year. However, reports today suggest he could be eying up funding a new rival right wing party

But Mr Farage hit back on Monday night, telling GB News: ‘I don’t fall out with anybody, they fall out with me.

‘There has been a behavioural problem for some months. Outbursts, anger, that kind of thing.

‘Frankly I’ve tried to, we’ve tried to, put it all to the back of our minds… and I’m not prejudging anything on the allegations of a bullying culture going on in his offices.

‘But I put it to you that any party who had a senior figure who was facing those accusations would have to act in some way.

‘When we found out that one of our MPs was facing these accusations – without prejudging anything we decided to appoint an independent KC to have a look at the situation.’

Musk and Trump are becoming increasingly unpopular in the UK thanks to their weakening of American support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Mr Farage has made much of his closeness to both men, even though Musk suggested he be replaced as Reform leader by Lowe in January.

However, the Financial Times today reported he could be eying up funding a new rival right wing party in the UK – potentially led by Lowe.

Reform is meant to be preparing for the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby after disgraced MP Mike Amesbury said he will quit the Commons after punching a constituent.

The former Labour MP was given a 10-week prison term, which was reduced to a suspended sentence after an appeal, leaving him at risk of being ousted from Parliament through the recall process.

The MP told the BBC he would ‘step aside at the earliest opportunity’, meaning a vote could be held at the same time as the local elections on May 1.

Mr Lowe used an interview with the Dan Wootton Outspoken programme to once again deny the accusations against him, branding them ‘absolute drivel’.

He pointed out that the allegations relating to Zia Yusuf, Reform party chairman, weren’t lodged with police until last week despite them allegedly happening in December.

This was after an interview appeared in the Daily Mail last week in which Mr Lowe criticised Mr Farage’s leadership.

He admitted having a ‘robust debate’ with Mr Yusuf on December 13, but denied threatening physical violence.

The MP was asked whether he thought the fallout could be linked to X owner and key member of Donald Trump’s administration Elon Musk, who last year expressed doubt about Mr Farage’s leadership and suggested he might support Mr Lowe.

‘I owe a huge debt to Elon Musk because without my X account which gives me a voice, this may well have ended very differently, because I think in the past anyone who has (been), if you like, a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down,’ the former Southampton FC chairman said.

‘I have been thinking about it in my own mind and I sort of wonder whether in a country that I think is becoming increasingly used to lies, somebody who stands up in Parliament and tells the truth is seen as a tall poppy.’