Hello and welcome to The Rundown, a podcast from Politics Home with me Alan Tolhurst.

Thanks to my editor Adam for holding the fort last week while I took a thoroughly undeserved break,

but I'm back and this week we're taking a look at Reform UK.

After winning five MPs last year and continuing to surge in the polls, even topping some of them,

with speculation they could hold the balance of power or even form the government in the next election,

the wheels have started to come off this week, thanks to a wholly predictable internal row involving MP Rupert Lowe and party leader Nigel Farage.

To discuss whether this is just the usual teething problems for an insurgent party on the road to maintain credibility, whether this is the start of reformers bubble bursting

and made the same problems every Farage-led party has faced.

I'm delighted to be joined by Gawain Towler,

long-time former spokesman,

the Nigel Farage from the UK years all the way to last autumn,

as well as Sophie Stowers,

research associate at the UK and a changing Europe think tank,

and my colleague Harriet Simmons, commissioner editor at our sister publication, The House Magazine.

So I'll start with you, Harriet.

Just talk us through kind of how this round started last week and kind of where we are currently.

I think the most recent thing was basically Nadia Farage saying to the Rupert Lo was not going to get back into the party.

Just talk us how we got to this point.

Yes, I suppose if we start with Friday, because that's when it really all kicked off, so obviously the party

put out a statement Friday evening at 5 o'clock that said that Rupert Lowe, obviously one of the

parties, five MPs, was referred to the police by the chairman, Zee Yusuf, for repeated threats he's alleged to have made against him.

One apparently back in December and one more recently, according to reform.

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