Police ‘urgently assessing’ racist comments by Reform activists as Sunak speaks of anger
Police are “urgently assessing” racist and homophobic comments made by Reform UK activists as Rishi Sunak spoke of his hurt and anger at a personal slur.
The Essex force said it was looking “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.
It came after the prime minister said he hated repeating the bigoted insult directed at him by a supporter of Nigel Farage‘s party, but said as a father of two daughters it was important to challenge “corrosive and divisive behaviour”.
Reform campaigners had been recorded by an undercover Channel 4 reporter making racist comments, including about the Tory leader who is of Indian descent.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We are aware of comments made during a Channel 4 News programme and we are urgently assessing them to establish if there are any criminal offences.”
Mr Sunak 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.
“And 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.”
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Farage on racial slurs by activist
Speaking on an election campaign visit to a school in Teesside, he added: “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 Sunak said he repeated the racial insult because it was important to challenge it.
He went on: “I hate having to do it, I chose my words deliberately, I hate having to repeat them, 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.”
The footage taken in Clacton where Mr Farage is a candidate, showed Reform campaigner Andrew Parker making the discriminatory remark about Mr Sunak and suggesting migrants should be used as “target practice”.
He also described Islam as a “disgusting cult”.
Another canvasser described the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggested members of the LGBT+ community were paedophiles.
Mr Farage, already facing a backlash over his claim the West “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has sought to distance himself from the inflammatory comments, saying he was “dismayed” by the “appalling sentiments” expressed.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked” by the “clearly racist” footage and that the Reform UK leader faced a “test of leadership”.
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Mr Farage has used reports Mr Parker was a part-time actor to suggest the incriminating film was a “total set-up”.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women, he said: “It was an act right from the very start.”
Mr Farage added: “I have to tell you, this whole thing was a complete and total set-up, I have no doubt about that.”
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But Mr Parker told Sky News his volunteering for Reform was separate from his acting job and claimed he had been “goaded” into making the comments caught on camera.
He said: “There’s lots of old people like me who are sick to death of this woke agenda… but on that particular day, I was set up and set up good and proper.
“It’s proper taught me a lesson – I was a total fool.”
He added: “I still support Nigel Farage, I think Nigel Farage is a brilliant guy.
“I think Nigel Farage is the only person who tells the truth.”
Mr Sunak also hit out at Mr Farage’s previous praise of Andrew Tate as an “important voice” for men.
The online influencer has faced charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women – charges he has denied.
The prime minister said: “Andrew Tate isn’t an important voice for men. He’s a vile misogynist. And our politics and country is better than that.”
The other candidates in Clacton are:
Matthew Bensilum, Liberal Democrat
Craig Jamieson, Climate Party
Tony Mack, independent
Natasha Oben, Green Party
Tasos Papanastasiou, Heritage Party
Andrew Pemberton, UK Independence Party
Giles Watling, Conservative
US prosecutors charged two men for allegedly running the crypto fraud scheme OmegaPro, which promised 300% returns to investors.
TRM Labs said North Korea is moving away from hacks to focus more on deception-based revenue generation, such as planting IT workers in US companies.
Politics
UK and France have ‘shared responsibility’ to tackle illegal migration, Emmanuel Macron says
Emmanuel Macron has said the UK and France have a “shared responsibility” to tackle the “burden” of illegal migration, as he urged co-operation between London and Paris ahead of a crunch summit later this week.
Addressing parliament in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, the French president said the UK-France summit would bring “cooperation and tangible results” regarding the small boats crisis in the Channel.
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King Charles III at the State Banquet for President of France Emmanuel Macron. Pic: PA
Mr Macron – who is the first European leader to make a state visit to the UK since Brexit – told the audience that while migrants’ “hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate”, “we cannot allow our countries’ rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life”.
“France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness,” he added.
Looking ahead to the UK-France summit on Thursday, he promised the “best ever cooperation” between France and the UK “to fix today what is a burden for our two countries”.
Sir Keir Starmer will hope to reach a deal with his French counterpart on a “one in, one out” migrant returns deal at the key summit on Thursday.
King Charles also addressed the delegations at a state banquet in Windsor Castle on Tuesday evening, saying the summit would “deepen our alliance and broaden our partnerships still further”.
King Charles speaking at state banquet welcoming Macron.
Sitting next to President Macron, the monarch said: “Our armed forces will cooperate even more closely across the world, including to support Ukraine as we join together in leading a coalition of the willing in defence of liberty and freedom from oppression. In other words, in defence of our shared values.”
In April, British officials confirmed a pilot scheme was being considered to deport migrants who cross the English Channel in exchange for the UK accepting asylum seekers in France with legitimate claims.
The two countries have engaged in talks about a one-for-one swap, enabling undocumented asylum seekers who have reached the UK by small boat to be returned to France.
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Britain would then receive migrants from France who would have a right to be in the UK, like those who already have family settled here.
The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.
President Macron greets Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle at his address to parliament in Westminster.
Elsewhere in his speech, the French president addressed Brexit, and said the UK could not “stay on the sidelines” despite its departure from the European Union.
He said European countries had to break away from economic dependence on the US and China.
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“Our two countries are among the oldest sovereign nations in Europe, and sovereignty means a lot to both of us, and everything I referred to was about sovereignty, deciding for ourselves, choosing our technologies, our economy, deciding our diplomacy, and deciding the content we want to share and the ideas we want to share, and the controversies we want to share.
“Even though it is not part of the European Union, the United Kingdom cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity – are connected across Europe as a continent.”
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