Reform UK is facing fresh questions over its vetting and internal culture after a year-long undercover ITV investigation recorded elected councillors and party candidates making racist, Islamophobic, violent and deeply disturbing sexual remarks while campaigning across England and Wales.
The footage includes Reform figures describing Muslims as “parasites”, referring to black children as “animals”, talking about forcibly removing Asian families from Britain and making violent comments about people they regarded as enemies.
But some of the most shocking material concerns the way male Reform figures spoke about women.
In one exchange recorded by ITV, a councillor said of a female candidate:
“If she was my daughter, it would still be bath night on a Thursday.”
Another man was recorded making a sexually explicit remark about what he would do if he were allowed to hug a female candidate.
The comments sit alongside footage of party figures discussing race, immigration and violence, and significantly widen the questions raised by the investigation. This is not simply another row about whether Reform’s vetting process failed to identify racist views. It is also about what some elected representatives and candidates apparently felt comfortable saying about women when they believed they were speaking privately.
Reform has launched internal investigations and says some of those involved have already been suspended.
The party told ITV:
“Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced. In some cases, there have been suspensions and due process must be followed.”
It added:
“From time to time, a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting. This is the same for all organisations.”
‘If she was my daughter, it would still be bath night’
The sexual comments are among the most unsettling parts of ITV’s investigation.
One councillor, talking about a female candidate, was recorded saying:
“If she was my daughter, it would still be bath night on a Thursday.”
The line drew immediate disgust after the footage emerged because of the sexualised way the councillor referred to a woman while framing her as though she were his own daughter.
In another conversation, a Reform figure discussed hugging a female candidate before making a sexually explicit remark about touching her without consent.
The footage suggests these were not isolated comments made in completely separate contexts. They formed part of a wider pattern of conversations in which some Reform figures spoke casually about women, minorities and political opponents in ways they would almost certainly never use in public campaigning.
That matters because Reform has spent the past two years trying to present itself as a professional national party capable of governing.
Nigel Farage has repeatedly insisted that the organisation has moved beyond the candidate scandals that dogged it during the 2024 general election and promised that extremists and bigots would be removed.
The ITV footage raises fresh questions about whether those promises have been matched by the party’s internal processes.
Solihull councillor called Asians ‘absolute parasites’
One of the most serious examples involved Reform councillor Alan Feeney in Solihull.
ITV’s undercover reporters joined Feeney while he was campaigning to retain his council seat in April and May this year.
During canvassing, Feeney was recorded describing the area as having been “infested” by Asian families and referring to them as “absolute parasites”.
He also said:
“If it’s an Asian name, I’m not even knocking at the door, they’re not voting Reform and I ain’t wasting my time.”
He jokingly described that approach as:
“Alan’s racist canvassing.”
Feeney went on to complain about Muslims working in the judiciary, schools and healthcare, before saying they were “against us”.
He also said that no more than one per cent of the British population should be non-white.
His language became more extreme when discussing what he believed should happen to South Asian families.
He said:
“You’d need a proper nuclear option, like literally drag them out of their homes, stick them on planes and f*** them off to Pakistan.”
ITV said Feeney had been approached for comment.
Bromley councillor called black children ‘animals’
ITV also filmed Dean Miller, a Reform councillor from Bromley in south London, while he was campaigning for the party during the Makerfield by-election.
Miller claimed white people had been “ethnically cleansed out of London” and complained about the growth of Nigerian communities in Bromley.
Speaking about local children he accused of vandalism, Miller said:
“Like all the ethnic f****** kids, they’re not white, they’re all f****** black, and they’re like f****** animals.”
He then added:
“It’s horrible to say it. I’m not racist.”
In another conversation, Miller claimed King Charles was secretly Muslim and said he should be killed.
He said:
“Apparently King Charles is a f****** Muslim.”
He then added:
“I think that’s f****** traitorous. Cut the c***’s head off, sorry.”
Miller told ITV he had been heavily medicated because of a chronic pain condition when the comments were made.
He has since resigned from Reform UK.
Another candidate joked about Kemi Badenoch’s race
ITV also recorded Martin Roberts, a former Reform branch treasurer in Pontypridd who had stood as a Reform candidate twice.
During canvassing in Caerphilly, an undercover reporter said he came from Leicester and remarked that the city had changed.
Roberts responded with an offensive racial slur.
Later, when the conversation turned to the Conservatives’ prospects under Kemi Badenoch, the reporter said he did not think the party would be successful.
Roberts replied:
“What, because she’s black?”
He then recalled racist language he had heard growing up.
Roberts told ITV that he had been trying to be informal and humorous, but accepted that he had used inappropriate language.
He said he regretted the remarks and denied being either a bigot or an extremist.
Violent remarks were also recorded
The investigation also captured conversations about violence and forced removals.
In one exchange, Reform councillor Dunning discussed taking aggressive action that another party official warned could provoke “massive civil unrest”.
Dunning replied:
“We’re going to have civil unrest if we don’t deal with it.”
Other footage featured people talking about migrants and minorities in language that went far beyond conventional arguments about border control or immigration policy.
That is important because Reform has frequently argued that criticism of its rhetoric is an attempt to smear ordinary concerns about immigration.
The ITV material is different. These were not simply disagreements about migration levels, asylum policy or integration. They included openly racist descriptions, violent fantasies and explicit sexual remarks.
Farage had promised Reform would remove ‘extremists’ and ‘bigots’
The investigation is particularly damaging because Farage has repeatedly promised that Reform would improve its candidate vetting.
At the party’s 2024 conference, Farage said:
“We don’t want extremists, we don’t want bigots, we don’t want people who think that way, because we represent the silent, decent majority of this great country that we live in.”
He also said in July 2024 that Reform had a “few bad apples” but promised they would be removed.
Farage said:
“They will be long gone, and we will never have any of their type back in our organisation. You have my 100% promise on that.”
Two years later, ITV’s undercover reporters were still able to record multiple sitting councillors and approved candidates making the sort of remarks Farage had publicly promised to keep out of the party.
That is why the story now goes beyond whether individual councillors should resign.
The wider question is how people expressing views like these were selected, approved and in some cases elected under the Reform banner after the party said it had strengthened its vetting process.
Richard Tice suggests one man was a ‘Tory plant’
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice responded to the investigation by suggesting that at least one person filmed by ITV may have had links to the Conservative Party and had deliberately behaved in a way intended to embarrass Reform.
In a video posted online, Tice accused an unnamed individual of being a “Tory plant”.
ITV said his description appeared to refer to Feeney.
Even if that allegation were eventually substantiated, it would not address the wider investigation, which involved multiple people in different areas of the country and included elected councillors as well as candidates and activists.
Several of those recorded had already been approved by Reform and some had successfully won seats.
Reform says investigations and suspensions are under way
The party says it is taking action.
Some of those involved have been suspended, others have resigned and internal investigations are continuing.
Reform also argues that every large political party occasionally has members whose views are inconsistent with its official values and that vetting cannot detect everything someone may later say privately.
That defence is likely to be tested by the scale of ITV’s footage and the number of separate cases uncovered during a single investigation.
The full documentary, Undercover: A Year In Reform, is due to air on ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday 18 October.
Leave a Reply