Sunak: being called an 'effing p***' by Reform activist 'hurts' and 'makes me angry'

As Rishi Sunak says Nigel Farage has 'questions to answer' over racist remarks made about him by a Reform UK canvasser, Mr Farage has suggested the man in question was a "paid actor", ITV News Correspondent Shehab Khan reports

Warning - this video and article contains some offensive language.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says being called an "effing p***" by Reform UK activists "hurts" and makes him "angry".

Reacting to comments about him revealed in undercover filming with Reform campaigners, Sunak said: "When 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."

"I don't repeat those words lightly, I do so deliberately because this is too important not to call out for what it is", he told ITV News Political Correspondent Shehab Khan, who was interviewing Sunak on behalf of broadcasters.

The PM went on to say "our politics and country is better than that, as PM but more importantly as a father of two young girls its my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour".

The undercover investigation by Channel 4 News revealed one canvasser labelling Sunak an "f****** p***", and calling for migrants crossing the English Channel to be used as “target practice” and another describing the Pride flag as “degenerate”.

Farage dismissed the racist comments by canvasser Andrew Parker as part of a "set-up".

Speaking on ITV's Loose Women, the Reform leader said it was all "an act right from the very start", after it emerged Parker is also a part-time actor.

Farage doubled down on the claims during an episode of BBC's Question Time, describing the expose as "a political set-up of astonishing proportions".

He said: "This is a total and utter set-up that has been leapt on, of course, by our political opponents, leapt on by most of the mainstream media."

Parker has confirmed he was a Reform activist alongside being an actor, and Channel 4 News say they "did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report."

When questioned about comments by other members of his campaign, including the labelling of an LGBTQ+ flag as "degenerate" by a close aide, Farage said they had been "watched England play football, they were in the pub, they were drunk, it was crass."

Loose Women panellist Jane Moore replied, "I get drunk, I'm not homophobic when I'm drunk."

Speaking to the PA news agency, Parker rejected any suggestion he was part of a set up, confirming he's an actor and that he got involved with Reform UK by contacting the party himself and volunteering to do leafletting because he believes in its message.

Parker said he made the comments in “the heat of the moment” because he was being “goaded on”, insisting "I'm not a racist."

He told PA: “Of course I regret what I said. Christ, I’m not a racist. I’ve had Muslim girlfriends. It was typical chaps-down-the-pub talk.”

Asked whether he would like to apologise, he said: “Of course I’m sorry. They were off-the-cuff things that everyone says.”

He said he had “a lot of Pakistani friends” and “Muslim friends”, and that he was “sick to death” of being asked about the footage.

Farage's events manager George Jones also compared LGBTQ+ people to paedophiles, saying "our police officers will be paramilitaries, they won’t be police” and that Reform UK should “bring back the noose”.

The party have dropped a string of candidates after various media outlets revealed they had made offensive comments online.

On Thursday, the Guardian reported that Reform UK withdrew support a candidate who allegedly appeared on a list of BNP members.

Farage told Loose Women that “nobody has fought harder against the far-right in British politics than me”.

He said he thought it was "ironic" that people with extreme right-wing views join his party because “we destroyed the BNP - they haven’t got the BNP to go to anymore”.

Last week, ITV News uncovered what appears to be racist social media posts by two candidates standing for Reform UK. Four other candidates were part of a Facebook group that regularly features Islamophobic and racist content.

Farage then threatened legal action against the vetting company Reform hired to background check candidates, after it failed to complete work it was paid to do.

On Thursday morning, Farage told ITV News that Reform were losing support because candidates keep "saying stupid things".

In recent days, a series of opinion polls have seen Reform UK’s ratings decrease after the party had been closing the gap with - and in some cases overtaking - the Conservatives.

Farage suggested the drop in support had nothing to do with his comments about the West “provoking” Russia to invade Ukraine. Instead, he blamed numerous reports about historical remarks made by some Reform UK candidates.

In a statement sent to Channel 4 News, Parker said: “I would like to make it clear that neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration.”

He added: “I have never discussed immigration with either Nigel Farage or the Reform Party and that any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on. At no time before I was sent out to canvass did I discuss my personal views with any representative of the Reform Party UK or Nigel Farage.

“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention.”

Sir Keir Starmer also faced scrutiny about the extent of his ambitions after claims the Labour Party has eased its support for Clacton candidate Jovan Owusu-Nepaul and “seconded” him to support a West Midlands campaign.

Starmer said the revelations of racist and homophobic comments by reform campaigners are a “test of leadership” for Nigel Farage.

The Labour leader told BBC Breakfast he was “shocked by what I heard in the report, clearly racist, and I think this is a test of leadership”.

When it was put to him that Farage had “distanced himself” from the comments, Starmer added: “Well he has, but you have to ask the question why so many people who are supporting Reform seem to be exposed in this particular way."

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