Reform MP caught out... by a smoothie

Rupert Lowe, Reform MP and Elon Musk’s personal pick to replace Nigel Farage as leader, fancies himself as a bit of a smoothie. But might he have been fooled by one?

The Great Yarmouth MP recently posted on LinkedIn an image of what he was told was food debris left behind on a hotel room table, writing: “We are all funding cleaners for illegal migrants in these hotels. This is what was left for a cleaner by one of the young foreign males… ‘not a female or a family to be seen’ I am told. It is a total fraud.”

Alas for Rupe, the pic itself may have been a bit of a fraud itself. Ash Stretton, a food regulatory affairs manager at Marks & Spencer, replied to Lowe, saying: “Must have been a fairly long time since the room was cleaned – that smoothie was changed at least 5 years ago. Guessing the image isn’t from the same quoted cleaner?.”

And indeed, a quick glance at M&S’ own website would show no such smoothie with the packaging on Lowe’s picture exists – the fruity drinks have long since been rebranded under the store’s ‘Brain Food’ label with the mango, avocado, pear and matcha flavour shown on the table discontinued.

So even if the picture is uncontrovertible evidence of ‘young foreign males’ leaving hotel rooms strewn with litter – which it most certainly isn’t – it was happening half a decade ago! Lowe, alas, has not found time to respond to Mr Stretton.