Last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a speech he was proud to be the UK’s first Asian prime minister, but “even more proud that it’s not a big deal”.
On Friday, Sunak said he was “hurt” and “angry” after a man campaigning for the anti-immigration party Reform UK was caught on tape. video The man also called for immigrants to be targeted.
The comments emerged in an exposé on Channel 4 News in which an undercover investigator secretly filmed the Reformist party in Clacton, a seaside area in northeast London where party leader and veteran political disruptor Nigel Farage is hoping to win his first parliamentary seat.
The investigation, which aired Thursday night, raises troubling questions for the Reform Party. The election campaign that shook the country It has since come after Mr Farage reversed an earlier decision not to run for parliament.
The rebel party has been rising in opinion polls in the weeks since, threatening to overtake Sunak’s Conservatives as the second-most popular party before slipping back recently. But it has also come under heavy criticism after some of its candidates were caught making inflammatory comments.
Farage initially said he was “dismayed” by the comments aired as part of a Channel 4 News investigation, adding that “some of the language was reprehensible”.
But on Friday, after it was revealed that Andrew Parker, the man at the centre of the furore, was a moonlighting actor, Farage claimed his party was the victim of “a complete frame-up”, an allegation Channel 4 News strongly denied.
The investigation also documented homophobic comments made by George Jones, an activist with close ties to the Reform Party in the UK
Jones, an aide who has also worked for two other parties led by Farage, was heard saying the pride badge on police cars was a “degenerate flag”, adding that if Reform UK formed a government in the future “our police would be paramilitary” and suggested the party should “return to the noose”.
The comments, which were revealed on television, sparked outrage from MPs across the political spectrum. However, the strongest condemnation came from Mr Parker, who described Islam as a “most abominable cult”, suggested army recruits do “shooting practice” by shooting at migrants arriving on British shores and used racist language to describe the prime minister.
On Friday, Sunak told broadcasters that it was “heartbreaking and very angry” that his two daughters “had to see and hear reformists campaigning for Nigel Farage” use such offensive language about their father.
The prime minister also repeated the slur in his criticism, saying: “I do not repeat these words lightly. I do so deliberately because the matter is too important not to clearly state what it is.”
Sunak added that Farage had questions to answer and said such corrosive and divisive behaviour “speaks volumes about the culture within the Reform Party”.
In a statement to Channel 4 News, Parker said that “neither Nigel Farage nor the Reform Party were aware of my personal views on immigration,” adding, “If my personal views have reflected badly on Nigel Farage and the Reform Party and damaged their reputation, I would like to sincerely apologize to them as this was not my intention.”
Channel 4 News said in a statement that it “did not pay the Reform UK lobbyist or anyone else for this story. Mr Parker, who was filmed covertly as part of an undercover operation, was not known to Channel 4 News.”
The broadcaster added: “Our strong commitment to rigorous, impartial journalism goes without saying.”
The television revelation is the second major setback for Farage, who shocked the Conservative Party this month by unexpectedly announcing he would take over as leader of the Reform Party and run in the general election.
Although Reform is unlikely to win many seats under Britain’s electoral system, which favours the two main parties, it could steal enough votes from the Conservatives to ruin their chances in a significant number of seats, compounding an election that polls predict they will lose.
Until recently, the Conservatives have been reluctant to directly criticize Farage and his party, partly because they hope to attract some voters sympathetic to reform.
But even before the latest protests, Reform appeared to be slipping in opinion polls after Farage said in a television interview that the West had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, an unpopular view in Britain where support for Ukraine’s government remains high and affection for Putin is weak.
Some reformist election candidates have come under scrutiny for past comments, including one who said Britain should continue Remaining neutral in the fight against the Nazisand another one using Anti-Semitic tropes And claimed that Jewish groups are “encouraging large numbers of Muslims to enter the UK”.
The party blamed some of its problems on growing pains and Threatening legal action against private companies It pays to vet candidates.
