Rishi Sunak took the gloves off in his fight with Reform UK on Friday, revealing his hurt and anger after his daughters were exposed to their father being called a P*** by a canvasser for Nigel Farage’s party.
Andrew Parker was caught using the racial slur while canvassing in Clacton, Essex, where Mr Farage is standing to be an MP.
Mr Parker, who was filmed as part of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News, said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter. But what annoys me is that f***ing P*** we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F***ing useless.”
Essex Police said they were “urgently assessing” the comments “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.
On a campaign visit to a school in Teesside, the prime minister told broadcasters: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an ‘effing P***’. It hurts and it makes me angry, and I think he has some questions to answer.”
It came after Mr Sunak also accused Mr Farage of “appeasing Putin” in comments the Reform leader made that appeared to blame the West for provoking the invasion of Ukraine, suggesting a change of strategy by the prime minister against the right-wing insurgent party eating away at the Tory voter base.
It follows weeks of attempts by advisers and MPs from the centre of the party to persuade Mr Sunak to attack the extremism found among some supporters of Reform, while the prime minister tried to take a more conciliatory approach.
On his decision to repeat the racial slur out loud, the prime minister told reporters: “I do it deliberately and I hate having to do it. I chose my words deliberately. I hate having to repeat it. Absolutely hate it. But I also think it’s important to call this out for what it is, and be clear about what it is.”
Asked if he was frustrated that some former Tory voters are leaning towards voting for Reform UK when its activists are making racist and homophobic comments, Mr Sunak said: “When you see Reform candidates and campaigners seemingly using racist and misogynistic language and opinion, seemingly without challenge, I think it tells you something about the culture in the Reform party.”
He continued: “Andrew Tate isn’t an important voice for men. He’s a vile misogynist. And our politics and country [are] better than that. As prime minister, but more importantly as a father of two young girls, it’s my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour.”
Mr Farage has previously been photographed with the social media personality Mr Tate.
Video footage shown on Channel 4 also featured another Reform UK canvasser describing the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggesting that members of the LGBT+ community are paedophiles.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked” by the “clearly racist” footage.
Mr Farage sought to distance himself from the comments, saying he was “dismayed” by the “appalling sentiments”.
However, after it was revealed that Mr Parker is a part-time actor, the Reform UK leader suggested that the filmed comments were part of a “set-up”.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women, he said: “It was an act right from the very start,” adding that Mr Parker had been “rough speaking” because he “was drunk” after watching football.
“People when they’re drunk often turn quite nasty. It was unforgivably nasty,” he said. “I have to tell you, this whole thing was a complete and total set-up, I have no doubt about that.”
Asked if he thought Mr Parker had been paid to discredit Reform UK, he said: “I don’t know whether he was paid or not. I’m saying it’s possible, I don’t know. Something is wrong here.”
Mr Parker had told Reform in Clacton that he was a property developer, and initially denied he was an actor, even though his profile for work is available online.
Peter Harris, Mr Farage’s election agent in Clacton, told The Independent: “He [Parker] only turned up one day to help. It just happened to be the day that Channel 4 were secretly filming, and they just happened to decide to get into his car.
“He is not from the constituency, but the problem is that we get so many volunteers that it is impossible to scrutinise everyone. But I have to say, I thought something didn’t stack up about him when I met him.
“But I have told our volunteers to remember we will be the most scrutinised local campaign in history. Other parties make mistakes and have bad apples, but ours will be blown up much more than the others because Nigel is our candidate.”
Channel 4 has denied any suggestion that it paid Mr Parker or has paid anyone else. “We strongly stand by our rigorous and duly impartial journalism, which speaks for itself,” a spokesperson said. “We met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser. We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation.”
Mr Parker has apologised for his comments, denied he is a racist, and claimed it was just “typical chaps-down-the-pub talk” in “the heat of the moment”.
