Rupert Lowe's legal challenge thrown out by High Court amid fears watchdog probe could 'end his career'

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has had a legal challenge against the parliamentary watchdog thrown out by a High Court judge.

The Great Yarmouth MP, whose legal representative warned in February that the adjudicative process has the "potential to end [Mr Lowe's] career", took legal action against the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

The action came after the watchdog investigated a complaint made by a third party, who cannot be identified, in January 2025.

Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled earlier today that Mr Lowe's challenge was “barred by parliamentary privilege” and was “accordingly not justiciable”.

The High Court judge, who released a 14-page judgment, added that he had "reached no conclusion" about Mr Lowe's claim.

He continued: “If this court were to entertain Mr Lowe’s claim, it would have to determine whether, as he says, the complaint to the ICGS was politically motivated and made in bad faith.

“There are sound reasons, rooted in the constitutional separation of powers, for Parliament to reserve the determinations of complaints of this kind to its own carefully calibrated internal framework.

“There are equally sound reasons for the courts to respect that reservation.”

Responding to the ruling, Mr Lowe said he aimed to “reclaim power for the elected MPs, and therefore the people” through the claim and that the decision allowed “unelected civil servants to weaponise parliamentary privilege”.

The Restore Britain leader, who last week celebrated a clean sweep of victories for Great Yarmouth First candidates standing for election to Norfolk County Council, added: “We now have the scandalous situation in which unqualified and unelected civil servants can wield parliamentary privilege to literally place themselves above the law.

“They now hold a special legal status, which means they cannot be challenged in court, positioned even higher than MPs for whom the system was actually designed.”

Mr Lowe was elected as Great Yarmouth's MP in the 2024 General Election.

The former Southampton FC chairman received 14,385 votes in the Norfolk constituency, seeing off Labour's Keir Cozens with a majority of 1,426.

The 68-year-old was suspended by Reform UK in March 2025 after the 68-year-old was accused of threatening the party's then-chairman Zia Yusuf.

The ex-Brexit Party MEP has consistently denied the allegations made against him.

The Crown Prosecution Service later said no criminal charges would be brought against him in relation to the alleged threats