Last year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a speech that he was proud to be Britain’s first Asian prime minister, but “even more proud that it’s not a big deal.”
Sunak said on Friday he was “hurt” and “angry” after a man running for the anti-immigration Reform Party used a racist slur to describe him in a video. The man also called for targeting immigrants.
The comments emerged in a Channel 4 News report that an undercover investigator secretly filmed reform activists in Clacton, a seaside area in northeast London. Party leader Nigel Farage, a veteran political disruptor, hopes to win his first parliamentary seat there.
The inquiry, which aired on Thursday night, raised troubling questions about reforms that have rocked the country’s general election campaign since Mr Farage reversed an earlier decision not to represent parliament.
In the weeks since, the rebel party’s poll numbers have risen, at one point threatening to overtake Sunak’s Conservatives as the second most popular party, but have recently fallen back. But it has also come under fierce criticism after some candidates were caught making inflammatory remarks.
Mr Farage initially said he was “dismayed” by the comments aired as part of the Channel 4 News investigation, adding that “some of the language used in it should be condemned.”
But on Friday, Mr Farage claimed his party was the victim of a “total frame-up” after it emerged that Andrew Parker, the man at the center of the saga, was a part-time actor, Channel 4 reported The message was strongly rejected.
The inquiry also documented homophobic comments made by George Jones, an activist closely associated with Reform Britain
Mr Jones, an aide who has worked for two other parties led by Mr Farage, was heard describing the Pride symbol on a police car as a “fallen flag”, adding that reforming the UK would make it difficult for a future government to be formed , “our” police will become paramilitaries” and suggested the party “bring back the noose”.
The televised comments sparked outrage from lawmakers across the political spectrum. The strongest condemnation, however, came from Mr Parker, who described Islam as “the most abhorrent cult”, suggested recruits should do “target practice” on migrants arriving on Britain’s coastlines and used racial slurs to describe the prime minister.
Sunak told broadcasters on Friday that his two daughters “had to see and hear reformists campaigning for Nigel Farage” using such offensive language about their father. I feel hurt and angry”.
The Prime Minister repeated the slur in his criticism, saying: “I don’t repeat these words lightly. I do it deliberately because it’s too important not to make it clear what it is.
Sunak added that Farage had questions to answer, saying such corrosive and divisive behavior “can tell you a lot about the culture within the Reform Party”.
In a statement to Channel 4 News, Mr Parker said “neither Nigel Farage personally nor the Reform Party understand my personal views on immigration”, adding that if my personal views brought them displeasure Good influence, bring them into disrepute, because that was not my intention.
Channel 4 News said in a statement that it “did not pay the Reform UK lobbyist or anyone else featured in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was secretly filmed through an undercover operation.
The broadcaster added: “It goes without saying that we stand firmly behind our rigorous and impartial journalism.”
The television exposure is the second major setback for Mr Farage, who shocked the Conservatives this month by announcing he would take over the leadership of the Reform Party and run in a general election.
Although Reform is unlikely to win many seats in a UK electoral system that favors the two largest parties, it could exacerbate their situation by stealing enough votes from the Conservatives to ruin their chances of gaining a significant number of seats Dilemma in an election predicted by polls.
Until recently, the Conservatives have been reluctant to criticize Mr Farage and his party directly, in part because they hoped to win over some voters sympathetic to the reforms.
But even before the latest outcry, reformists were gaining ground in polls after Farage said in a television interview that the West had provoked Russian President Vladimir V. Putin into invading Ukraine. The surge appears to have eased. This was not popular in Britain, where support for the Ukrainian government remains strong and there is little favorable opinion of Putin.
Some Reform election candidates have come under scrutiny for their past statements, with one saying the UK should remain neutral in the fight against Nazis and another using anti-Semitic tropes and claiming Jewish groups “encourage Muslims” Entering the UK on a large scale.”
The party blamed some of the problems on growing pains and threatened legal action against a private company it paid to vet candidates.
