A Reform UK campaigner who was filmed using racist and hom*ophobic language has claimed he was “goaded” into making them while party leader Nigel Farage has alleged he was working as a paid actor.
An undercover investigation by Channel 4 News found Reform UK campaigners in Clacton – where Mr Farage is standing – used racist and hom*ophobic language, and appeared to admit that the party had broken campaign spending limits in the seat.
Reform UK has said that anyone making “unacceptable comments” will no longer be part of the party’s campaign.
Who is Andrew Parker?
Andrew Parker was canvassing as a Reform UK party volunteer at the time of the investigation.
Mr Parker was filmed saying he knows Mr Farage, having met him in a restaurant in London once and spoken with him on the phone “a couple of times”.
The undercover investigation filmed him knocking on doors wearing a Reform rosette and canvassing voters. However, following the publication of the footage, Mr Farage said Mr Parker is “an actor by profession”.
The Reform leader wrote on X: “Andrew Parker was the man that made the astonishing racist comments that have given us so much negative coverage. We now learn that he is an actor by profession.
“His own website says he is ‘well spoken’ but from the moment he arrived in Clacton he was doing what he calls ‘rough speaking’. This whole episode does not add up.”
Mr Farage later hinted on ITV’s Loose Women that he believes the footage was “set up” by broadcasters.
Mr Parker has since confirmed he works as an actor but said he became involved in campaigning with the party because he believes in its message.
He added: “Of course I regret what I said. I’m old school. Christ, I’m not a racist. I’ve had Muslim girlfriends. It was typical chaps-down-the-pub talk.”
Asked why he had made the remarks, Mr Parker said: “It was in the heat of the moment. I was goaded on.”
What racist and hom*ophobic comments did the undercover footage show?
Mr Parker was recorded referring to Rishi Sunak by saying “that f***ing P*** we’ve got in – what good is he?”
He also described Islam as “the most disgusting cult” and said that all Muslims are “interested in doing is taking over, changing everyone into being a Muslim.
“What the Islamics want is horrendous really, sick mate, sick m**********ers.”
He was filmed encouraging the undercover reporter to stress the word “illegal” when talking about immigration, especially when speaking with “P***s”.
While doorknocking at a mobile home park in Clacton, Mr Parker was filmed saying that army recruits should be sent to Deal, near Dover, to stand on the beach and carry out “target practice” and “just shoot” people coming across the Channel on small boats.
He was later filmed telling a man who said he was a paramedic to deny oxygen to a patient in an ambulance if they are “any of that f****** lot”.
“And do us a favour. You’re a paramedic. Any of that f****** lot get in your ambulance, just don’t put oxygen on the bastard. Use something else. You know where I’m coming from.”
Before the footage aired, Mr Parker made a statement to Channel 4 saying that “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.”
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 27, 2024Exclusive: Undercover inside Reform’s campaign – evidence of hom*ophobia and canvasser's racism
Watch the full report by @darshnasoni pic.twitter.com/NqH2RSDy6X
In another recording of a discussion between people linked to Reform at a pub in Clacton, George Jones a Ukip and Brexit Party veteran who now runs events for Mr Farage’s campaign, told an undercover Channel 4 reporter that Clacton is “proper England. You know what I mean, proper English”.
He said that Clacton was “not like in London, when you’re a foreigner in your own country” and “if you say hello to anyone” they look like they are about to “knife you in the face”.
Seeing a police car go past with a Pride flag on its bonnet, Mr Jones described the symbol as “degenerate,” and asked: “What are the old bill doing promoting that crap? They should be out catching nonces not promoting the f***ers”.
He said that if Reform was in government “our police officers will be paramilitaries, they won’t be police”.
What was said about Reform’s election campaign spending?
Rob Bates, a senior Reform campaigner, was recorded at the same pub meeting saying that Reform has “spent double” the legal limit on campaign spending in Clacton.
Referring to the cap, he said: “We’ve spent double that already, don’t worry”, before Mr Jones adds: “It’s twenty grand minus… It’s six for VAT. So actually it’s only f****ing fifteen.”
Mr Bates later told Channel 4 News that he was joking and that he was not responsible for campaign spending.
Reform UK told the programme that campaign spending is “well within the legal spending limits, and, like all parties, our returns will be delivered promptly after the close of the polls”.
What has Reform UK said about the footage?
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.”
Mr Farage told Channel 4 he was “dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people” associated with the local campaign, and that they will no longer work on 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.”
However, he later told ITV’s Loose Women: “I saw the footage last night and thought ‘no-one speaks like that’. It turns out he is an actor… it was an act right from the very start.
“This whole thing is a complete and total set up, of that I have no doubt whatsoever”.
The party has not named any individuals who have been removed from its campaign.
The other candidates standing in Clacton are:
- Liberal Democrats – Matthew Bensilum
- Climate Party – Craig Jamieson
- Independent – Tony Mack
- Green – Natasha Osben
- Labour – Jovan Owusu-Nepaul
- Heritage Party – Tasos Papanastasiou
- UK Independence Party – Andrew Pemberton
- Conservative Party – Giles Watling
