Reform UK condemns campaigners' racist slurs

Reform UK has condemned campaigners for the party who were recorded by an undercover Channel 4 journalist apparently making racist, homophobic and Islamophobic comments while campaigning to elect Nigel Farage as an MP.

Undercover filming broadcast by Channel 4 News took place within the Reform UK campaign in Clacton, where Mr Farage is standing for office.

It also included an apparent assertion that the party has breached the local electoral campaign spending limit in the seat.

The report featured one canvasser talking about shooting illegal migrants and another man described as linked to the party calling a display of the Pride flag "degenerate".

Reform UK said those making "unacceptable comments" will no longer be part of Mr Farage's campaign.

Footage broadcast by Channel 4 shows a man identified as Reform UK canvasser Andrew Parker using a racial slur to refer to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian descent.

Mr Parker is also heard describing Islam as "the most disgusting cult out" and suggesting army recruits should carry out “target practice” by shooting at small boats bringing illegal migrants to the UK.

At one point Mr Parker tells voters Reform were "kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoons".

During campaigning, he advisers the undercover reporter to use the term "illegal" when discussing immigration, especially when addressing non-white households.

Ahead of the publication of the footage, Mr Parker made a statement to Channel 4 claiming "neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration".

Mr Parker said: “I have never discussed immigration with either Nigel Farage or the Reform Party and that any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on.

“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention."

The undercover footage includes a conversation between individuals identified in the programme as Rob Bates, a senior Reform UK campaigner, and two other men linked to the party.

During the conversation Mr Bates says Reform UK has "spent double" the legal spending limit during its campaign to get Mr Farage elected.

Mr Bates later told Channel 4 News that his comment was a joke and clarified that he is not responsible for campaign spending, distancing himself from his earlier statement.

Reform UK told the programme that campaign spending is “well within the legal spending limits”.

Later, another man linked to the party appears to make homophobic comments, describing a Pride flag on a police car as a "degenerate flag".

"What are the old bill doing promoting that crap?" he asks the group.

He repeatedly suggests members of the LGBT+ community are paedophiles and calls police attending Pride "virtue signalling nonce bullshit".

If Reform UK were to form a future government he says “our police officers will be paramilitaries, they won’t be police” and should “bring back the noose”.

BBC News has been unable to to verify this man's identity and is attempting to contact him.

Speaking at a Reform UK event in Boston, Lincolnshire, party leader Nigel Farage said the party was not "perfect," in response to the Channel 4 investigation.

"We've had one or two candidates that have said things they shouldn't have said," he said. "In most cases they're just speaking like ordinary folk.

"They're not part of the mainstream political Oxbridge speak, we understand that. In some cases one or two people let us down and we let them go.

"Well, compare that to the international price fixing and betting ring that is the modern day Conservative Party."

Alongside him Hubberts Bridge Community Centre, chairman of the party Richard Tice said the racist comments were "inappropriate".

He said: "We put a statement out and it's all self-explanatory in the statement.

"The reality is that we're a fast-growing movement, and when you've got unpaid volunteers, some people behave inappropriately. And they're gone."

Peter Harris, Reform UK's Campaign Manager in Clacton, said he was "appalled by these reported comments".

"All parties in such a short campaign are having to deal with the challenges of working with many activists they may not have met before," Mr Harris added.

"Any individuals who have been identified as making unacceptable comments and holding those views are not welcome in our campaign. We are running a campaign to represent all voters in Clacton."

The other general election candidates standing in Clacton can be found here.