A Reform UK volunteer has been secretly recorded calling Rishi Sunak a “f---ing p---” in a racial slur.
Several activists who were working in Nigel Farage’s Clacton campaign office have been dismissed by the party following the investigation by undercover reporters for Channel 4 News.
One party activist was recorded describing the Prime Minister as a “f---ing p---”. Mr Farage called the remarks “reprehensible”.
The party has also announced that it has withdrawn support from its candidate in Basingstoke, Raymond Saint, for failing to declare that he was previously a member of the British National Party.
With just a week to go until the election, the Channel 4 report into the behaviour of activists in Mr Farage’s own office is the biggest setback yet for his campaign.
An undercover reporter went canvassing with Andrew Parker, a Reform UK activist who told him what to say on the doorstep.
“The immigration thing, use the word ‘illegal’,” he said. “Emphasise ‘illegal’ especially if you open the door and there’s a bunch of p---s.”
Giving his view on Muslims and what the party would do with mosques, he says to the undercover investigator: “Sick mate. Sick m----f----s”, adding: “It’s a cult. I tell you what, if you don’t know about Islam, it is the most disgusting cult. We’re f------ kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoons.”
In the same conversation, Mr Parker said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter but what annoys me is that f------ p--- we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F------ useless”.
Talking to a prospective voter on the doorstep, Mr Parker is also heard expressing his views on how to stop the boats, suggesting Army recruits should carry out “target practice”.
“You’ve got Deal, haven’t you. The place near Dover. Army recruitment. Get the young recruits there, yeah, with guns on the f------- beach, target practice. F------ just shoot them. That is what the Greeks done… You know about that. The Greeks shot a load… Ringfence Bradfordstan. Round the f----- up. Do that f------ lot as well. And you’ve got these b-----s running our country. You must be f------ joking mate.”
He later tells a man who says he is a paramedic: “Do us a favour. You’re a paramedic. Any of that f------ lot get in your ambulance, just don’t put oxygen on the b------. Use something else. You know where I’m coming from.”
Mr Parker told Channel 4 he wanted to “apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute”.
Mr Farage questioned whether Channel 4 had subjected other political parties to “similar subterfuges”, but made no excuses for the behaviour of the volunteers.
He said: “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.
“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.
“Reform UK is a party for everybody who believes in Britain. I am proud that our supporters, candidates and national campaign team come from all backgrounds and identities.”
Peter Harris, his agent in Clacton, said part of the problem had been that: “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.”
He 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.”
Mr Saint became the latest candidate to lose the backing of Reform UK after it emerged he was a previous member of the BNP.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “As Nigel Farage has repeatedly made plain, people who belong or used to belong to the BNP are not welcome in Reform UK.
“Every candidate was asked to declare their past or present political affiliations and was specifically asked whether they had ever been a member of the BNP.
“Mr Saint failed to do so and clearly lied to us.”
Outside Reform’s Clacton office, set above an amusem*nt arcade on the seaside town’s Pier Avenue on Thursday night, campaigners were unloading scores of boxes of leaflets to be distributed to voters as the news of the Channel 4 story broke.
Supporters, who had been warned the allegations were about to be published, refused to be named and did not want to talk to journalists. One campaigner said that this incident had proven that “the media cannot be trusted”.
Another said: “Underhand tactics have been used and we have been targeted unfairly. We are not a racist party. If people are going to eavesdrop on people it’s very sad.”
The campaigners had hired Farikh Abbas, a local van driver, to help with the delivery of the boxes of thousands of leaflets.
Mr Abbas, who would not say whether he would vote Reform but admitted he was disillusioned with the major parties, said: “I haven’t found anyone here be racist towards me. At least Reform is being upfront.”
Asked what campaigners would be doing this evening, another campaigner joked: “We will be sorting out the leaflets by people who couldn’t find anything to watch on Channel 4.”
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Farage held a rally in Sunderland where he told the crowd the decision to implement a second and third Covid lockdown was the “biggest ever mistake” made by a British government in peacetime.
Mr Farage also used the event to introduce his latest high-profile backer Sir John Hall.
The former Newcastle United owner has supported the Conservative party and donated £500,000 to the Tories during the 2017 snap election.
The 91-year-old, who arrived at Rainton Arena with a cane and was cheered by the crowd after Mr Farage announced his presence, told journalists he was a “disillusioned Conservative” who felt he had been “let down” by the party over recent years.
He said: “I want to see my culture kept in this country and not destroyed and that is why I’m voting for Nigel.”
Sir John added: “Nigel is the only one who is prepared to stand up for what I believe in and I believe millions of other people would say the same.”
