Rupert Lowe caught on camera using ‘antisemitic language’

Rupert Lowe, the former Reform UK MP, appears to have been caught on camera using “antisemitic language”.

The Great Yarmouth MP can be heard remarking on the size of a camera which is about to start filming him, describing it as a “Jewish camera”, in a video obtained by The Guardian newspaper.

Mr Lowe was suspended from Reform UK earlier this year following a string of allegations about his conduct, which he has strenuously denied.

In the footage obtained by The Guardian, understood to have been recorded in February or March, Mr Lowe is seen sitting on a green sofa in a meeting with parliamentary staff.

As he noticed the camera, Mr Lowe said: “In days gone by you’d call it a Jewish camera, but that would be politically incorrect. Because it’s so small.”

Following laughter from the room, someone out of sight of the video can be heard to say: “Career over in a second.”

Mr Lowe appeared to agree, repeating: “Career over in a second.”

Asked about his comments, Mr Lowe told the PA news agency the video was a “ludicrous smear attempt”.

But the Board of Deputies of British Jews, one of the UK’s largest Jewish community organisations, branded the remarks antisemitic.

“This is bizarre and outdated antisemitic language which has no place in our politics. Mr Lowe should apologise for the offence this remark has caused,” a spokesperson for the board said.

Mr Lowe was suspended from Reform UK in March after he was accused of making verbal threats against party chairman Zia Yusuf, and of bullying.

The Crown Prosecution Service said no criminal charges would be brought against the independent MP earlier this month in relation to alleged threats towards Mr Yusuf.

Mr Lowe has since accused his ex-colleagues of engaging in a “sinister” attempt to use the police to silence him, and branded Reform’s leader Nigel Farage a “coward and a viper”.

The MP has hinted in interviews since his suspension he would be interested in setting up his own challenger political party on the right.

He has also suggested he would be open to joining the Conservatives, if the party were to undergo reform.