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LONDON — Nigel Farage is facing his toughest scrutiny of the U.K. election campaign after activists for his Reform UK party were filmed making a host of racist and homophobic remarks.
The Brexiteer, who hopes to challenge the governing Tories from the right through his insurgent Reform UK party, moved to distance himself from the “reprehensible” remarks after a Channel 4 News expose.
The outlet filmed a canvasser named as Andrew Parker describing Rishi Sunak as a “f*cking P**i,” saying small boats should be used as “target practice” and that “we’re f*cking kicking all the Muslims out the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoons.”
Reform aide George Jones said the “f*cking degenerate” Pride flag was promoting “nonces” and “our police officers will be paramilitaries.”
Farage issued a statement Thursday night disowning the comments. On Friday morning, he appeared to reverse course, questioning whether the man filmed by Channel 4 was an actor.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
The Reform leader also repeated suggestions his party is getting unfair scrutiny from the media, saying he was “interested to know” whether Channel 4 was subjecting other parties to “similar subterfuges.”
It is the latest difficult for Farage’s party, which has been forced to disown or criticize several of their candidates since the election started. Two were dumped due to their previous support for the far-right British National Party, while several others have faced heavy criticism for sharing Covid conspiracy theories online.
Thursday’s story broke just as the Conservatives — who look set for an election wipeout exacerbated by Farage’s dramatic entry into the race — believe they have found a viable attack line against Farage in his comments that the West “provoked” Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Telegraph that Farage’s words are “damaging appeasement,” while Tory Whip Stuart Anderson told the i newspaper the issue is coming up on doorsteps.
Reform are currently polling third ahead of the July 4 vote, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, sitting on 17 percent. That’s just three percent below the Conservative Party, who are trailing Labour.
