March 29, 2025 - 8:00am
Are there any MPs who better embody the spirit of the Trumpist “you can just do things” model than Rupert Lowe?
The now-partyless MP for Great Yarmouth, who has been spent much of his Parliamentary career subjecting pro-migration arguments to death by a thousand FOI requests, yesterday announced that he is launching his own inquiry into Britain’s rape gang scandal.
Lowe — who was suspended by Reform UK earlier this month following allegations of threats made against members of staff — has announced his inquiry will focus on what happened, how it happened, and why it was allowed to happen. He’s launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance the initiative — as well as promising to himself donate — and has pledged to assemble a qualified panel to oversee the investigation, supported by a legal advisory team.
While Lowe’s tenacity must be admired, the cold hard fact is that his proposal is unlikely to deliver the kind of restorative justice which drove calls for the inquiry in the first place. A private inquiry has no legal power to compel witnesses to appear or provide evidence. Unlike a statutory inquiry, which can summon witnesses and require the production of documents, a private inquiry relies on voluntary cooperation.
Likewise, as it operates independently of the courts and Government enforcement mechanisms, a private inquiry has no legal authority to impose punishments, fines, or any form of legal sanction. Its findings may carry moral or political weight, but any legal consequences — such as prosecutions or regulatory action — would need to be pursued separately by the authorities based on the evidence uncovered. Whistleblower Maggie Oliver has previously criticised attempts to set up inquiries, arguing that without sufficient power and radical aims they will not bring the change needed.
There is another risk. This announcement comes on the back of Lowe’s allegations that there were “repeated attempts from within Reform, including senior leadership, to silence me on the Pakistani rape gangs”, apparently on the grounds that his language on the gangs was “too strong, too robust, too tough” and after promises made by the party in January to conduct a private inquiry remain unfulfilled. Could Lowe’s attempts to uncover the truth be obscured by the petty squabbling of intra-party politics?
Given Westminster’s preference for low Namerist rigmarole over issues of substance, it is a risk. One can look to the Covid inquiry, which was most celebrated when it abandoned the pretence of seriousness and focused on which politician called another politician a rude name, as a sad precedent.
Regardless, Lowe should be applauded for his willingness to try. He is doing his utmost in an imperfect system; the tools at his hands may be insufficient, but they have been turned to work regardless. Perhaps the best that can be hoped for from this inquiry is that it generates such noise, and lays bare such horrendous truths, that the issue becomes impossible to ignore and forces action.
If that can be done – and there is no reason to suggest, considering the cause of the victims has been largely advanced by media coverage and public outrage rather than political attention, that it won’t — that would achieve more than Reform’s other MPs have managed combined. Indeed, he will have achieved more than many MPs achieve in their entire careers. If he fails, it cannot be said it was for want of trying.
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SubscribeHistorical parallel playing out – Korean War cessation 53? Both sides are being gradually degraded. Zelensky has three victory requirements – full territory returns, reparations and war crime trials. Understandable after what his people have been through and would be justice for their bravery and ingenuity. But unrealistic. Putin can outlast him and the idea of an internal coup/replacement a pipe-dream. Putin’s Praetorian Guard is immense and too many on the pay-roll. Russia’s economy is gradually being degraded but Ukraine’s is much, much worse.
The West could end this tomorrow. Ukraine gets immediate NATO and accelerated EU membership and economic guarantees but Zelensky doesn’t get his three war aims. It is though a victory for the Ukranian people as it is what they have wanted for some time. And maybe a bigger victory. The border becomes another 38th parallel, and we help Ukraine become another South Korea with a new Marshall Aid package. Putin and his mafia are left degraded but not fully defeated. Only the Russian people can do that. But the world is changed, and for the better thanks to the valour of the Ukrainian people.
An extremely apposite comment with which I agree wholeheartedly.
The notion that winter weather prevents hostilities is not shared by many military experts. Currently, water-logged deep ground is hampering movement. Freezing weather, and with it solidifying ground, would make movement possible again. Winter weather has historically not stopped military action, from the Middle Ages to the Napoleonic Wars, WW I, or WW II.
What is the assessment that Russian troops are poorly equipped based on? I recall reports from the Ukrainian side complaining that the Russian side fires ten time the shells the Ukrainian army is able to, and Ukrainians die in their trenches without ever seeing a Russian soldier. So what is it?
“In war, truth is the first casualty.”
Answer:
News from five months ago.
The Russian artillery advantage is gone, along with much of Russian transport and munitions. All thanks to HIMARS. Why do you think Putin has to now rely on 3rd-world nations for his munitions?
The four-months long Russian attack on Bakhmut is only designed to burnish Prigozhin’s image. It has no military significance. If he can take it, he’s much stronger politically. It would be the only Russian “success” in four months.
Since the average Ukrainian soldier and average Ukrainian unit is now much better equipped than their Russian counterpart, a winter campaign is almost certain.
Both sides remember the near collapse of German forces during the Russian winter counterattack of 1941-42.
Only Ukraine, however, has the wherewithal to do it.
Latest on Kherson:
The Russians apparently changed into civilian clothes, and then hid among the civilians ferried to the eastern side of the Dnipro. The idea was that, if Ukraine hit any ferry, Putin could accuse Kyiv of a war crime.
I might add that:
1) Soldiers dressed as civilians is a war crime.
2) Using civilians as human shields is a war crime.
3) And, since many of the 80,000 civilians evacuated left against their will, ethnic cleansing is a war crime.
Just another day in Putin’s 3-day war…
Perhaps the ethnically Russian civilians in Kherson chose to cross the river. They may not have wanted to stay and face the reprisals meter out by the Ukrainians in Boucha. .
Rather mild, compared to what most people in Kherson have suffered the last eight months. At least their washing machines and racoons are safe.
The side that is winning rarely will agree to a ceasefire or talks. This will last at least till summer–barring the Russian front crumbling.
Since Ukraine outnumbers the Russian army, and is much better prepared for winter combat, look for attacks resembling the Soviet winter counter-offensive in 1941-42.
Ukrainians know their Soviet history well.
My expectations is it would be years and years of border skirmishes. No significant, lasting breakthroughs on either side. Just attrition.
Can we but hope that some semblance of sanity is returning to both adversaries in this futile conflict. Perhaps the Democrats, due to a modest but real defeat in the midterms, have finally come to realise that there is more to lose than gain by pursuing their current unrealistic objectives. And perhaps even mad Vlad can see that things are only going to get worse, so to cut his losses.
Whatever the localised rights and wrongs within Ukraine/Donbas/Crimea, it hardly merits a global depression and potentially World War 3 for the big geopolitical players.
Might do well to consult a map.
Retaking most of the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine is hardly an “unrealistic objective.” The area in question is actually smaller than the area already liberated.
The Russian Army is finished as an offensive force, while its air force can no longer influence the battlefield. The only real question is whether or not the new, poorly trained “mobiks” can slow the Ukrainian offensive.
Sometimes one just has to face objective reality.
I wonder is there already an arrangement of sorts in place to faciliate Russia’s withdrawal from the right bank of the Dnieper river? Compared to the previous retreats around Balaklaya / Kupyansk / Izyum , this is very orderly so far…
I think the withdrawal is more to do with the Russians maybe learning their lesson from numerous previous failures and finally acting strategically in preserving much needed troops and equipment rather than due to any agreement.
My guess is the winter will lead to heavily fortified front lines which neither side will be able to dislodge, at which point a ceasefire will become much more likely
Given the low quality of the Russian conscripts, and the poor quality of their equipment, it’s doubtful they can hold the front everywhere.
They are outnumbered, and thus cannot rotate units out of the line. They will stay in the trenches until they die.
We won’t see trained new Russian troops at least until the spring. Even then it’s doubtful their training will match that of the Ukrainians. That’s not how the Russian army operates. The officers in their units train them, and they’ve just lost too many.
Looking at the map on TV, it seems to me that the Russians have consolidated their position in the East by retreating to the other side of the river. Zelensky calls it a success but I wonder.
Of course Russian citizens are fed propaganda but aren’t we too? That is war for you!
The people dying in the war in Ukraine are real people, they are not pieces on a board game. A deal where Russia withdraws to the positions held on 23rd of February would be one which Putin cannot afford to ignore. It would also stop the people of the eastern Donbass and Crimea from being ethnically cleansed which would happen if these areas were reconquered by Ukraine. We should remember that Crimea has been Russian since the 18th century while it was only given to Ukraine in 1954.
I share your sentiments, but I fear too much has been broken in the meantime for a solution where the film is rewound to be feasible. Which just means more killing and suffering.
I suspect the number of nuclear strikes in this campaign will equal the number of poison gas attacks since WW2.
In both cases, leaders realized that costs far outweighed benefits.
I suspect the number of nuclear strikes in this campaign will equal the number of poison gas attacks since WW2.
In both cases, leaders realized that costs far outweighed benefits.