There was one name on the lips of many Reform supporters before their party’s local election campaign launch in Birmingham last Friday night, but it wasn’t Nigel Farage. Instead, conversation turned to Rupert Lowe, one of five Reform MPs elected last year, who was suspended this month when allegations of bullying emerged, the day after he had described Farage as a “messianic” leader of a protest party. “One of the immediate issues he [Farage] has to deal with is the Rupert Lowe issue,” said Pat Elwick, a retired referee from Lincolnshire. He is campaigning for Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory