Defunct Rupert James Graham Lowe (born 31 October 1957) is a British Reform UK politician and businessman, who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Yarmouth since 2024.
[2] He previously served as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2019 to 2020.
During his ownership of the club, the Saints maintained their Premier League status into the 21st century, despite having been in regular relegation battles since the early 1990s and rarely finishing in the top half of the table.
Gordon Strachan resigned in March 2004, and Lowe and the board took the decision to replace him with Paul Sturrock before the end of the season.
Sturrock himself left the club by "mutual consent" within six months, despite achieving good results during his time in charge.
[14] Michael Wilde, a new investor in Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, led a new team of directors in taking over the club.
At an AGM on 23 December 2008, he received several calls to resign from former chairman Leon Crouch and from fans and shareholders at the meeting.
[15] On 2 April 2009, Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC was put into administration, resulting in Lowe's resignation from the board.
[15] In December 2012, Lowe purchased Garforth Town of the Northern Premier League, along with the franchise operation of Socatots & Brazilian Soccer Schools linking up again with Simon Clifford, who had been employed as a Southampton coach in 2005.
He won a seat for the Brexit Party in the West Midlands constituency in the 2019 European Parliament elections.
[3] He had planned to be the Brexit Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Dudley North constituency of the UK Parliament[20] but withdrew.
[31] In January 2025, American billionaire Elon Musk, who had endorsed Reform UK, called on Nigel Farage to resign as leader, and then praised Lowe.
[35] In January 2025, Lowe voted along with other Reform UK MPs to block the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill with a motion that called for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs.
[42] In February 2018, Lowe was one of several people who received undisclosed damages payouts from Mirror Group Newspapers as part of the phone hacking scandal.