Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has repeated claims that a canvasser caught on camera branding Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a ‘f****** p***’ is actually an actor playing his part in ‘a total and utter set-up’, during a fiery appearance on tonight’s Question Time.
Mr Farage’s much-anticipated appearance on BBC Question Time Leaders’ Special at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham came just hours after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lashed out at him over the slur.
At the centre of the furore is Reform activist Andrew Parker, who made the remark about Mr Sunak during a secret recording made by Channel 4 News in Essex.
He also suggested that migrants should be shot by soldiers as they arrive on UK beaches and called for Muslims to be ejected from mosques so they can be turned into Wetherspoons pubs.
Other campaigners in Clacton, the town where Mr Farage is hoping to become MP on July 4, suggested LGBT people are ‘degenerate’, would turn the police into ‘paramilitaries’ and would bring back ‘the noose’.
‘A total and utter set up’: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage repeated claims that a canvasser caught on camera branding Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a ‘f****** p***’ is actually an actor, during a fiery appearance on tonight’s Question Time
Mr Farage said what had happened during the secret Channel 4 recording was ‘unbelievable’ and that most of what had appeared in the report ‘didn’t ring true’
Mr Farage claimed Mr Parker is an actor and ‘was acting from the very start’ during his interview. Pictured: Mr Farage pressed his finger against his mouth as he listened to an audience member
A bullish Mr Farage wrestled with his hands as he spoke and insisted it had been ‘a political setup of astonishing proportions’
On tonight’s Question Time, Mr Farage seemed well-prepared for the barrage of questions from the audience on the matter.
His verdict was clear from the start as a bullish Mr Farage insisted it had been ‘a political setup of astonishing proportions’ and that Mr Parker is an actor.
He said: ‘We then found out, yes, actually, he is an actor. He’s worked in the past for Channel 4. On his own site he says, ‘I’m a well-spoken actor with an alter-ego, I do rough talking’.
He added: ‘Let me tell you, from the minute he turned up in that office in Clacton and I saw him, he was acting from the very start. He even says on his website, ‘hire me, I do undercover filming’.
Asked who he believed paid the man to pretend to be a Reform canvasser, Mr Farage said: ‘It may well have been the production company, or it’s the guy himself who wanted publicity to get more parts, I don’t know.
‘What I know is this is a political setup of astonishing proportions.’
Repeating that thought, he said: ‘This is a total and utter setup that has been leapt on, of course, by our political opponents, leapt on by most of the mainstream media.’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage hot-footed it into the venue hosting tonight’s leaders’ debate ahead of the General Election , amid shouts from pro-refugee protestors outside the studio
Mr Farage unsurprisingly came under pressure to answer questions from the audience over the conduct of campaigners in Clacton who were recorded making a catalogue of vile racist and homophobic remarks
Pro-refugee protestors shouted outside the studio and held banners as Mr Farage arrived
Pro-refugee campaigners held up placards to the arriving guests, who included Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay
Elsewhere, Nigel Farage was faced with laughter from the BBC Question Time audience when he said he has ‘no idea’ why candidates who have made racist comments are still standing for Reform.
The Reform UK leader was read racist or xenophobic comments made by Reform candidates, including Leslie Lilley candidate for Southend East & Rochford; Edward Oakenfull, candidate for Derbyshire Dales; and Robert Lomas candidate for Barnsley North.
Mr Farage said: ‘In most cases, they’ve been disowned. People like (Leslie) Lilley, honestly, what he said is criminal.’
When asked: ‘So why is he your candidate?’ Mr Farage said: ‘I have no idea’, prompting laughter from the audience.
He said: ‘I inherited this. It was a start-up party. I paid a professional London vetting company to weed this out. The work wasn’t done.’
Asked if he would withdraw support from the three referenced candidates, Mr Farage said: ‘I wouldn’t want anything to do with them’.
The Reform UK leader was earlier seen hot-footing it into the venue hosting tonight’s leaders’ debate ahead of the General Election, amid shouts from pro-refugee protestors outside the studio.
When asked: ‘So why is he your candidate?’ Mr Farage said: ‘I have no idea’, prompting laughter from the audience.
He said: ‘I inherited this. It was a start-up party. I paid a professional London vetting company to weed this out. The work wasn’t done.’
Asked if he would withdraw support from the three referenced candidates, Mr Farage said: ‘I wouldn’t want anything to do with them’.
Earlier, Mr Farage said of the vetting company: ‘I organised a professional London vetting company, we paid them £144,000 pounds upfront to vet our candidates, they didn’t do it. Now, I think this was the first of a series of the establishment not wanting us to do well.’
Hosted by Fiona Bruce, Mr Farage, wearing a smart blue suit and dot-patterned tie, appeared alongside Green Party Co-Leader Adrian Ramsay.
His thoughts on the matter came after Andrew Parker, a divorced father of one, from Bishop Stortford, Herts, confirmed he is a part-time actor, but insisted he also genuinely campaigns for the party.
Andrew Parker, who works as an actor, was filmed calling the Prime Minister ‘a f***ing p***’ as he canvassed in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex
However, he refused when asked three times if he had been paid to infiltrate Reform UK to make their volunteers appear racist.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Parker said he’d been set up by Channel 4 – but added: ‘I’m not going to say anything, I think the best thing I can do is not say anything at all.
‘I’m getting phone calls non-stop and it’s making me ill to be honest and it’s not fair on me. It’s really causing me a lot of stress and I really can’t stand much more.
‘I was set-up, it’s as simple as that, the guy was laughing and joking with it all the time.
‘He pretended to be part of the Reform campaign team. It was just a joke and it’s become ridiculous,
‘We were having laughs and jokes – like blokes do have laughs and jokes – that was it really. I feel a bit of a fool, but I’m not used to this media stuff.’
Mr Parker says his primary income has come from being a property developer. He says he is a part time actor who has been an extra in the Ricky Gervais film David Brent: Life on the Road and is well-suited to playing ‘the villain or Mafia-type’ roles.
Mr Parker also denied being a racist – although he conceded his comments were ‘pathetic’ – and that he is ‘an outdated old git’.
Wading into the matter, earlier today the Prime Minister, whose grandparents were from India, said Mr Farage had ‘questions to answer’ as Reform plunged into chaos in the wake of the revelations, the latest and most damaging of a string of allegations to hit it in recent weeks.
He likened the language to that used by ‘misogynist’ Andrew Tate and repeated the racial slur used against him ‘because it is important to call it out for what it is’, citing the impact on his young daughters.
Mr Farage was seen frequently clasping his hands together or waving them emphatically around as he answered the questions from the audience
Mr Farage gestures with his hands as he answers one of many questions on topics ranging from tax and immigration to the state of the NHS from the audience
Presenter Fiona Bruce grilled Mr Farage on the appearance of Mr Parker in the Channel 4 report and was told ‘he’s nothing to do with us’
Mr Farage appeared alongside Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay on the BBC Question Time Leaders’ Special
During Friday night’s appearance on Question Time, Mr Farage said what had happened was ‘unbelievable’ and that most of what had appeared in the report ‘didn’t ring true.’
He was unequivocal in his stance that Mr Parker’s views did not reflect those of the Reform UK party and took pains to say: ‘He is nothing to do with us.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the racial slur used against him by a Reform UK canvasser – who Mr Farage disputes is an actor – made him feel hurt and ‘angry’
On ITV’s Loose Women earlier today, Mr Farage made similar claims and said Mr Parker was an actor used to discredit him, saying: ‘This whole whole thing is a complete and utter set-up, of that I have no doubt.’
During a campaign visit to a school in Teesside, the Prime Minister told broadcasters that what he had seen ‘hurts’ and made him ‘angry’
He said: ‘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 clearly for what it is.’
Asked whether he was frustrated that some former Tory voters are leaning towards Reform UK when their 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.
‘Andrew Tate isn’t an important voice for men. He’s a vile misogynist. And our politics and country is 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.’
