Reform civil war explodes as Rupert Lowe calls out former party over 'cult of NHS'

Suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe has demanded that a Royal Commission be set up to find ways to replace the "cult of the NHS" - including paying at the point of use. The multi-millionaire businessman said patients are paying the price for using an outdated and decrepit healthcare system. The Great Yarmouth MP, suspended from Reform UK after a bitter and ongoing spat with leader Nigel Farage, took aim at his party for lacking the guts to modernise the failing health service.

And in a blistering broadside at inaction to modernise he said: "Labour, Tory, Reform - they're all scared stiff of touching the NHS debate with a very long pole. Afraid of the outrage mob. I think it's finally time for some honesty. The NHS was a noble idea that has long outlived its usefulness. If we were starting from scratch today, nobody, absolutely nobody, would design what we currently have. We need a Royal Commission to explore the best way forward - independent of party politics."

The NHS was founded in 1948 by Labour giant Nye Bevan to provide healthcare from cradle to grave, free at the point of use for everyone.

It has an annual budget of around £200billion and is Europe's biggest employer with 1.3million staff, but is plagued by a carousel of crises. More than 100,000 key posts including doctors, nurses, paediatricians, lab technicians and cleaners remain unfilled. Patient satisfaction now stands at all-time low as patients struggle to get timely GP, hospital and dental appointments.

Oxford-educated Mr Lowe, 67, elected as one of five Reform UK MPs at last July's General Election, was suspended by amid allegations he harassed two women and threatened Reform chairman Zia Yusuf.

He claims he was ostracised by party top brass for debating issues and suggesting common-sense solutions to issues that matter to voters, like the state of British high streets and the parlous state of the NHS, which put him on a collision course with Mr Farage, 61.

He strenuously denies any impropriety.

His suggestions come as Labour grapples with making the NHS fit for purpose and as Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted: "Anyone who works in or uses the NHS can see it is broken [but] while the NHS is broken, it is not beaten."

Mr Lowe said: said: "Politicians are absolutely terrified of criticising the NHS. It's pathetic. A slavish devotion to a health service, one which is spectacularly failing.

"It's a destructive system, but nobody is willing to say it. It simply does not work for the people paying the bills, to the point more and more don't even bother trying.

"We need a full royal commission to look at what systems work for countries similar to us, and how we can copy the best bits of those different systems. Yes, that does mean the funding model may change and you can quote me on that. If it results in a more efficient system, then good. Let's change it.

"Look at what works around the world, and let's steal the best ideas - the funding models, the tech systems, the incentives, the training. Let's build something that actually works.

"It's always presented as the NHS or the American option.

"People aren't dying in the Sydney streets of appendicitis or limping around Paris with untreated broken legs. There are other options. And actually, looking at patient outcomes - ones that work far better than our own.

"Medical professionals within the health service do fantastic work within a failing system. But the structure around them needs to be torn down and rebuilt. There's a reason thousands and thousands leave the NHS to work in a system that actually works. Perhaps we should start asking why?

"Grown men and women in Parliament, from all parties, need to extract themselves from the NHS cult."