AUDIENCE members tore into Nigel Farage over the Reform UK leader's hostility towards migrants during a BBC Question Time special.
On Friday evening, the BBC aired the second of its BBC Question Time Leaders' Special, which was hastily arranged in order to accommodate Farage.
While host Fiona Bruce took questions from the audience, Farage was repeatedly laughed at and criticised for his party's rhetoric on immigration after several Reform candidates became embroiled in rows over racism.
The programme came after Channel 4 recorded a canvasser for Reform UK in Clacton - the seat Farage is contesting in the General Election - saying migrants coming to the UK should be used as "target practice".
“Would you admit that this country would be nothing without our rich history of immigration?” “We had the most successful immigration policies...in the whole of Europe. Now it is totally out of control" A #bbcqt audience member quizzes Nigel Farage on his views of immigration pic.twitter.com/LsWe6cyCI9
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 28, 2024
The activist Andrew Parker was recording labelling Islam a "disgusting cult" and referring to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with a racial slur.
However, Farage has claimed the incident is a "set-up" and that the man is a paid actor being used to try and discredit his party's campaign.
After Farage said that all political parties and businesses were vulnerable to hiring people with views they did not agree with, an audience member said the number of alleged racists involved in Reform UK went far beyond that.
"Some of my friends have start-up companies but none of them employ a whole slew of massive racists like you," he said, to audience laughter and applause.
this guy just destroyed Nigel Farage on #bbcqt well done sir pic.twitter.com/rVs3YInRch
— dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@mrdavemacleod) June 28, 2024
"I credited you with more intelligence than to say it's an actor."
Another audience member asked Farage when he would take responsibility for his party's failures and "stop making excuses".
Farage replied: "I'm not going to apologise. But I promise you what happened over the weekend is a set-up, a deliberate attempt to smear us."
Later, a woman asked Farage if he would be willing to admit that the UK would be "nothing without our rich history of immigration" if she paid him £70 via the website Cameo.
Farage has regularly recorded videos for the platform, which allows users to pay celebrities for a personalised video message.
The Reform UK leader then blamed migration for housing shortages and said immigration should be the "biggest issue" in the General Election.
It came after Farage claimed he done more than "anybody else alive" to combat the far-right in the UK.
