NIGEL Farage has cancelled his party leader’s interview which was scheduled to be broadcast on the BBC on Tuesday night.
The Reform UK leader pulled out of the Panorama grilling from the BBC’s Nick Robinson.
The BBC’s TV schedule is listing an episode of Tokyo Vice to be broadcast in its place.
The Daily Mail reported that sources said Farage would still be taking part in the BBC interview series at a later date.
Rishi Sunak was interviewed by Robinson on Monday night, and other party leaders including John Swinney and Rhun ap Iorwerth are set to appear in the coming days.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has still not said he will take part in an interview.
The news of Farage's cancellation comes one day after the BBC revealed one of his Reform candidates at the General Election had argued that the UK should have remained neutral while Adolf Hitler's Nazis stormed Europe.
Reform backed Bexhill and Battle candidate Ian Gribbin over the remarks, saying they were “probably true”.
Gribbin was also found to have made derogatory comments about women, calling them the "sponging gender" that “on aggregate as a group ... only take from society”.
Reform UK insisted Gribbin's remarks had been tongue-in-cheek.
And on Monday, the BBC made clear that it had edited its Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg after broadcast due to a segment interviewing Farage which was "not in line" with editorial standards.
During his appearance in the BBC Panorama interview with Robinson on Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged Tory voters not to have their heads turned by Farage as Reform gain on the Conservatives in the polls.
Challenged on Reform and Farage, Sunak said: “So the choice for everybody, there’s only going to be one of two people who’s prime minister, Keir Starmer or myself.
“A vote for anyone who’s not a Conservative candidate is just making it more likely that Keir Starmer is that person.
“So if you ask someone, you say, you know, what makes a Conservative, if you are someone who wants lower taxes, if you want your pension protected, if you want migration reduced, if you want a sensible approach to net zero that prioritises our security and reducing people’s bills, that’s what I will offer you in this election.”
