1
0
Reform UK has faced intense scrutiny this week after an investigation which exposed vetting failures and misconduct within the party.
ITV Exposure recently shared an undercover investigation which exposed local councillors of Reform UK making racist and misogynist remarks on camera. The report recorded multiple offensive remarks from party candidates and elected councillors about Muslims, people of colour, and women.
Although the far-right policies of Reform UK are no secret, such vulgar remarks from official candidates comes as a shock, especially after Nigel Farage previously promised to professionalise the party and improve the vetting process.
In 2024 at Reform UK’s annual conference, Farage stated that they “don’t want extremists” and “don’t want bigots” whereas two years later the party is ostensibly littered with councillors with anti-social views which are harmful to many minority groups in the UK. Farage noted that the party had “a few bad apples” but promised that they would be “long gone […] you have my 100% promise on that”.
Last May, undercover ITV reporters joined Alan Feeney on campaign in Solihull, where he was captured on camera stating that Asian families were “absolute parasites” that had “infested the area”. Reporters also recorded another Reform UK candidate, Chris Whelan, making derogatory comments about women. The footage shows him talking about sexually assaulting a female Reform candidate from Birmingham.
Both Alan Feeney and Chris Whelan were later elected as local councillors. They have only recently resigned following the break of the undercover report, both citing “personal reasons”.
ITV reporters also spoke to Reform Councillor Dean Miller of Bromley. Miller was recorded making various extreme statements, such as referring to non-white children as “animals” and calling for King Charles to be beheaded as he is “apparently […] Muslim”. Miller has since claimed he was heavily medicated at the time of the statement and has resigned from his position as councillor.
There has been criticism for Reform’s vetting failures in allowing candidates with racist, Islamophobic and sexist views to become candidates. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated that there is “no place” for this kind of rhetoric and harsher lines need to be drawn. Kemi Bedanoch, Conservative leader, stated that it is “very clear that reform is attracting these people”, calling for better screening processes for candidates.
When ITV reporters spoke to a former reform candidate, he shared that the party does not have “any serious vetting whatsoever” and described the process as an exercise for candidates to “hide their crimes”. He stated that they are told to simply delete any problematic posts and that open support for far-right views, such as the rhetoric of Tommy Robinson, is “not a barrier” to becoming a candidate.
When confronted with this, Nigel Farage still insisted that Reform UK does not have any issues with vetting. The leader of Reform UK also doubled down, stating that he “can’t vet the future comments” or what his councillors might say, “after a drink”. Despite Farage’s previous assurances that the party was for the “the silent decent majority” and that they have no place for bigots and extremists, the shared clips from ITV Exposure show that the party’s membership is rife with such ideas.
ITV is yet to release the full footage from their undercover investigations. The documentary is set to release tonight, Sunday 18th, and will hopefully bring more insights into Reform UK and its candidates’ anti-social views.
Edited by Lily Groves
Image: Nigel Farage by Gage Skidmore, 2018//CC BY-SA 2.0
Wonderful article !