Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe Has Earned £40k For Posting On X
Rupert Lowe now sits as an independent MP after having been suspended from Reform UK in March (Alamy)
3 min read
Independent MP Rupert Lowe has earned nearly £40,000 from posting on Elon Musk’s social media platform X since his election last year, far surpassing Reform UK MPs Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Lee Anderson.
Reform suspended Lowe in March over bullying complaints made by two female staff members and allegations he had threatened then-party chair Zia Yusuf. Lowe denies the allegations, and in May, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not be bringing any charges against him.
Since then, there has been a public feud between the MP for Great Yarmouth and his former party, and during that time, Lowe's profile on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, has continued to grow.
PoliticsHome analysis of Parliament’s register of MPs’ interests shows Lowe has declared £39,759 in income from X at the time of writing, making him the highest-earning UK politician on the platform by a wide margin.
By comparison, Reform leader Farage has declared £9,663 in total payments from X, deputy leader Tice has earned £5,770, and MP Anderson has earned £3,871. They are the only other MPs who have declared payments from the social media website, and Farage has also earned £3,541 and £785 from Google and Meta, respectively, so far this year.
Lowe told PoliticsHome: "If I were in politics to make money, I wouldn't donate my entire net MP salary to charity in my constituency. Would I?
“This is the most expensive job I've ever had. Trust me - if I wanted financial gain, I wouldn't be doing this."
The American social media company X remains the dominant online platform for UK politicians and journalists, despite a surge in interest in alternatives like Bluesky and Threads following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 US presidential election. Musk, who took over Twitter in 2022, played a key role in Trump’s campaign and briefly led his Department of Government Efficiency before stepping down in May.
The US billionaire has shown a strong interest in UK politics in recent years, using his social media platform to attack Keir Starmer's Labour government. According to Farage, Musk spoke to the Reform leader about offering financial support to the party last year – but as a US citizen, he cannot legally donate personally to UK political parties without going through a legitimate UK-registered company.
PoliticsHome's analysis of MPs’ interests shows that while Farage, Tice and Anderson’s payments from X have broadly plateaued, Lowe’s have continued to rise sharply, out-earning all three significantly since overtaking them at the start of this year.
This coincided with when Musk called for Farage to be replaced as Reform leader in January, reportedly following tensions over Musk’s backing for far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Farage has not declared any earnings from X since April 2025.
In June, Musk appeared to signal support for Lowe’s breakaway movement, Restore Britain, by replying to Lowe’s launch post with a series of Union Jack emojis.
Elon Musk was interviewed by then-UK prime minister Rishi Sunak in 2023 (Alamy)
Since November 2024, X has shifted to a different monetisation model, paying users based on engagement from Premium subscribers rather than advertising revenue. Creators can earn up to 25 per cent of subscription income based on likes, reposts and replies, with Premium+ engagements worth more.
Lowe’s content, often provocative and posted at high volume, has consistently driven high levels of engagement, and his reach has been amplified by Musk, who has more than 225m followers, engaging with the MP's posts. However, there is no evidence that Musk directly controls how much individual users are paid.
