Rishi Sunak has condemned remarks by a member of Nigel Farage’s campaign team in Clacton, after the Reform UK activist was filmed using a racist slur to describe the British prime minister.
The Conservative party leader, who is of Indian descent, said on Friday that the language angered him and that his “two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaigned for Nigel Farage” using the racist term in reference to Mr Sunak.
Mr Sunak opted to repeat the racist term when speaking about the film. “I don’t repeat those words lightly. I do so deliberately because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is,” he said.
He said Mr Farage “has some questions to answer”.
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Andrew Parker, a canvasser for Farage in Clacton, Essex, where the Reform leader is standing for election on July 4th, was filmed by an undercover Channel 4 reporter also telling constituents that army recruits should shoot migrants arriving in the UK on small boats.
“You’ve got Deal, haven’t you? The place near Dover. Army recruitment. Get the young recruits there, yeah, with guns on the f***ing beach, target practice,” he said. “F***ing just shoot them.”
Mr Parker later said he has always voted Tory but is annoyed by Mr Sunak, and used a racist term to describe him.
The remarks are the latest in a series of racist and violent comments made by some Reform parliamentary candidates and activists, and come as the party focuses on its hardline immigration policy.
Reform replaced several candidates before the registration deadline on June 7th over inflammatory remarks, but has since only suspended two after it emerged they were previously members of the far-right British National party.
Mr Sunak on Friday added: “When you see Reform candidates and campaigners seemingly using racist and misogynistic language and opinions seemingly without challenge, I think it tells you something about the culture within the Reform party.”
The undercover Channel 4 reporter joined canvassers in Clacton and chatted in a pub with members of the Reform UK campaign team.
Rob Bates, a senior party campaigner, told activists that Reform had spent double the campaign spending limit in Clacton.
Mr Farage on Thursday said he was “dismayed” by the remarks made by individuals, adding they would no longer be involved in Reform’s campaign.
[ Reform UK rally: Boos and cheers at political Punch and Judy ShowOpens in new window ]
“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,” he added.
But by Friday morning he claimed it had been a “set-up” after it emerged Mr Parker was a part-time actor.
Mr Parker said in a statement to Channel 4: “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.”
Mr Bates said he had made a joke about breaching spending limits in Clacton and was not involved in Reform’s finances.
Reform said: “We are well within the legal limits and, like all parties, our returns will be delivered promptly after the close of the polls.”
Mr Farage told the Financial Times on Tuesday that a vetting company had failed to screen Reform’s candidates and blamed previous management for a roster that included individuals who had praised Hitler’s leadership and were BNP members.
“Those candidates were there months before,” Mr Farage said. “I inherited that.”
Although Mr Farage is a director and majority shareholder of Reform, he has previously maintained he was not involved in the day-to-day running of the party before he returned as leader four weeks ago.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024