Nigel Farage launched a brutal war of words today against former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who this weekend announced plans to launch a new right-wing rival party. 

Mr Farage slapped down Mr Lowe's efforts, warning that the public don't know who he is and that he will find out launching a new party is much more difficult that Mr Farage makes it appear.

Speaking at a press conference in Westminster this morning, after unveiling his new shadow cabinet line-up, Mr Farage took aim at Mr Lowe's history of falling out with employers, and denied they had ever been "friends".

The Reform UK leader said: "He sued me in 2019 - as he sues everybody! And if you look at the history of Southampton football club, and then look at the history of WH Ireland that he chaired in the City of London, you will see he was removed from both of those roles after lawsuits galore and two very dramatic EGMs.

"There are, last time we counted, 11 parties that claim to be on the right or centre right of British politics, from the Heritage Party to goodness knows who else. There is only one proper brand of centre-right politics in this country, it's call Reform.

"People think 'oh, Farage has done it, we'll just set a party up, it'll be marvellous, we'll sweep the next election', it just isn't as easy as that!

"Does he have a profile on X? Yes he does. Is Elon [Musk] going to support him? Probably. But you see, when he stood up and said 'we've got to consider the mass deportation of entire communities, including those born in the United Kingdom', that just moves way beyond the point of reasonableness, decency, morality.

"That was the moment at which I just realised we had to get rid of him, and get rid of him as quickly as we could."

Mr Farage also told reporters that he's aware of fresh polling set to be published later today that suggests ordinary British voters do not know who he is, and he has almost no name recognition, including in his own constituency of Great Yarmouth.

Mr Lowe, who sits as an Independent MP in the Commons, announced his intentions for a new party - Restore Britain - last Friday.

Taking to X, he took a swipe at Mr Farage and Reform UK for including "failed ministers... tainted by failures of the past."

He said the party "won't just stop mass migration" but "will reverse it" and that every single illegal migrant will be detained and deported.

Restore Britain was initially set up as a “political movement” by Mr Lowe after his fractious exit from Reform UK. It is now expected to act as an umbrella political party, with locally based political parties as its partners.