Decorated Navy chief quits after flashing his Union Jack pants on video call with horrified colleagues
A DECORATED Navy chief has quit after flashing his Union Jack pants on a video call.
Grinning Rear Admiral Tim Lowe, 57, stunned colleagues by standing up at the end of an online meeting to reveal his boxers.
But his patriotic performance backfired when a complaint was made and an investigation was launched.
Lowe retired as boss of the MoD’s UK Hydrographic Office for “personal reasons” before the inquiry ended.
A source said: “He intended this as a bit of humour to raise spirits at the end a video meeting at the height of the pandemic — it didn’t go down as he intended. It’s backfired on him.”
Married Lowe, who had a stellar career in the Navy for more than 30 years, was made a CBE in 2017.
He was at UKHO, which maps the oceans, for five years, leading about 900 staff from its base in Taunton, Somerset.
But it ended under a cloud after the online call with 15 others in June.
As it wrapped up, Lowe smiled, stood and the screen filled with the sight of his pants, which pals insisted he had on outside his trousers, Superman-style.
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Lowe declined to comment at his home in Cullompton, Devon, but wife Lynda, 63, said it was not true he had thrust towards the camera.
She added: “Well, it happened but not like that.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour.”
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