Nigel Farage’s Reform UK members caught using homophobic slurs and calling for migrants to be shot
Nigel Farage’s Reform campaign in Clacton exposed using extreme racist and homophobic language (Channel 4)
Reform UK campaigners in Nigel Farage’s prospective seat in Clacton have been caught on hidden cameras using extreme racist and homophobic language in a Channel 4 News investigation.
Channel 4, which went undercover within the Reform campaign in Clacton in June, revealed that a canvasser had made racist and Islamophobic comments to potential voters in the Essex constituency.
The undercover investigation by the broadcaster focused on a Reform canvasser named Andrew Parker, who went on the campaign trail with the Channel 4 reporter.
Within a conversation with the undercover reporter, he was found to use vile racist slurs, reportedly describing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “f**king p***”.
“I’ve always been a Tory voter,” Parker reportedly told the investigator. “But what annoys me is that f**king p*** we’ve got in. What good is he? He’s… f**king useless.”
He also advised the undercover reporter on what to say to potential voters on the doorstep.
“The immigration thing, use the word ‘illegal’. Emphasise ‘illegal’ especially if you open the door and there’s a bunch of p***s,” he reportedly said while on the way to canvassing a doorstep.
He also reportedly called Islam a “cult”, suggested that the army should use refugees coming to the UK in small boats as “target practice”, and said, “we’re f**king kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoons.”
Later, while speaking to a prospective voter on the doorstep, Parker was reported as telling the voter, who is a paramedic, to deny oxygen in an ambulance to “any of that f**king lot”.
“Do us a favour. You’re a paramedic. Any of that f**king lot get in your ambulance, just don’t put oxygen on the bastard. Use something else. You know where I’m coming from”, he was revealed as saying.
The Channel 4 News investigation also revealed that a campaigner for Reform – which has included several anti-trans policies in its manifesto – had used homophobic language on the campaign trail. George Jones, who runs events for Reform, was caught on camera calling a Pride flag displayed on a police car a “f**king degenerate flag”.
“You see that f**king degenerate flag on the front bonnet? What are the old bill doing promoting that crap? They should be out catching nonces, not promoting the f*****s,” he was reported as saying.
‘Reprehensible’ language exposed
Leader of the Reform Party, Nigel Farage, described the language used as “appalling” and “reprehensible” in a statement to Channel 4 News.
“I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign,” he told the broadcaster.
“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform UK policy. Some of the language used was reprehensible.”
Andrew Parker, who was revealed to have used racist language, told Channel 4 News that his comments are “my own personal views”, and that Nigel Farage and the Reform Party were “not aware of my personal views on immigration”.
“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,” he added.
The undercover investigation also exposed an apparent admission that Reform breached the local electoral campaign spending limit in Clacton, though a campaigner states his comment was a “joke”.
After being asked if Reform had spent “twenty grand” on Reform’s Clacton campaign, Rob Bates, a senior campaigner for the party, was reported as saying, “we’ve spent double that already”.
He later told the broadcaster that his comment was a joke, while the party has claimed campaign spending is “well within the legal spending limits”.
PinkNews has contacted Reform UK for comment.
You can read all of PinkNews’ General Election 2024 coverage here.
