Reform UK campaigners continue using racist abuse

Danger: This story contains language that may offend

It appears that homophobic and racist comments made by Reform UK participants were recorded via a hidden Channel 4 journalist as they campaigned to make Nigel Farage MP for Clacton.

Reform UK said those making “unacceptable comments” would no longer be part of Mr Farage’s marketing campaign.

The unknown recording contains a dialogue between Reform UK organisers.

A man attending a birthday party appears to have collected homophobic comments describing the satisfaction flag displayed on a police vehicle as a “degenerate flag”.

“What’s old Bill doing promoting that nonsense?” he asks the gang.

He at times suggests that contributors to LGBT+ people are pedophiles and criticizes the police for participating in sexual assault.

The UK executive, he says, needs to be reformed, “our police officers will be paramilitary, they will not be police” and “the noose needs to be brought back”.

He is also shown explaining to a hidden reporter why Reform UK decided to come to Clacton, saying: “Look around, proper England. You know what I mean, proper English.”

He said there was a time “not like London, when you’re a foreigner in your own country” and “if you say hello to someone” it feels like they’re “about to stick a knife in your face”.

BBC Information has not been able to confirm the ID of this individual and is attempting to contact him.

During the conversation, senior Reform UK campaigner Rob Bates says the party spent “twice the criminal spending limit” during its campaign to get Mr Farage elected.

Mr Bates told Channel 4 News his comments were a shaggy dog ​​tale and clarified he was no longer responsible for campaign spending.

Reform UK informed the program that the marketing campaign spending was “within legal spending limits”.

Pictures broadcast via Channel 4 showed additional racist, homophobic and Islamophobic abuse, appearing to be made through Andrew Parker, best known as a campaigner for Mr Farage who has criticized the Indian-origin Made racial remarks to please Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Mr Parker can be heard describing Islam as “the most despicable sect” and suggesting that military recruiters should conduct “target practice” by capturing small boats bringing illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom .

At one level Mr Parker says voter reform could “drive all Muslims out of mosques and into Wetherspoons”.

Throughout the election campaign, he advises the undercover reporter to downplay the “illegal” time period when discussing immigration, especially when addressing non-white families.

Before the newsletter of the photographs, Mr Parker made a comment to Channel 4 claiming that “neither Nigel Farage personally nor the Reform Party is aware of my personal views on immigration”.

Mr Parker said: “I have never discussed immigration with Nigel Farage or the Reform Birthday Party and any comments I made during those recordings reflect my own personal views on any of the topics I commented on. Are.

“I would therefore like to apologize wholeheartedly to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have caused them to reflect badly and bring them into disrepute as that was not my aim.”

Speaking at a Reform UK event in Boston, Lincolnshire, party leader Nigel Farage said the party was not “very good”.

“We have had one or two applicants who have disclosed issues they should not have disclosed,” he said. “Generally they’re just talking like the familiar population.

“They are not part of mainstream political Oxbridge, we understand that. In some cases one or two people let us down and we let them go.

“Cleanly, evaluate it with a global price solution and betting ring that is the trendy moment of conservative birthday celebration.”

Joining him at the Huberts Bridge Community Centre, party chairman Richard Tice said the racist comments were “irrelevant”.

He said: “We have put out an observation and within the observation it is all self-explanatory.

“The reality is that we are a fast-growing movement, and when you have unpaid volunteers, some people behave inappropriately. And they left.”

Peter Harris, marketing campaign supervisor for Reform UK in Clacton, said he was “appalled by these alleged comments”.

“In such a small campaign all parties are facing the challenges of working with many activists they may have never met before,” Mr Harris said.

“Anyone who has been identified as making unacceptable comments and holding those views is not welcome in our campaign. We are running a campaign to represent all voters in Clacton.”

The status of alternative basic election applicants can also be searched in Clacton right here,

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer called the comments “blatantly racist”, and claimed the scandal was a test of Mr Farage’s leadership.

“It’s the job of a leader to change his party to make sure the culture is right – and the standards are understood by everyone within the party,” Sir Keir told BBC Breakfast.

“You have to ask the question why so many people who were supporting reform have been exposed in this particular way,” he said.