‘Take the f***ing deal’: Farage secretly filmed letting off Reform candidate accused of racist slur against David Lammy

Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Stay on top of the latest political news with our View from Westminster newsletter Get the latest political headlines with our free email Get the latest political headlines with our free email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Reform UK is facing a fresh crisis after a new undercover sting showed Nigel Farage appearing to let off a mayoral candidate accused of racism . Secretly filmed footage showed Mr Farage telling his director of communications, Ed Sumner, that the party’s mayor candidate for Hampshire and the Solent, Chris Parry, must apologise to David Lammy for a social media post in which he said the then-deputy prime minister should “go home to the Caribbean”. The footage cuts to Mr Sumner saying to Mr Farage “you’re protecting him”, before the party leader says: “It’s showing a bit of... bit of sorrow. Look, ‘I’m sorry’ is probably a good thing to hear. Just take the f***ing deal.” In Mr Parry’s social post in January over speculation that the government could be considering talks about reparations for slavery, he wrote: “Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies.” At the time, Labour described the remarks as “racist and grossly offensive”. Mr Parry later apologised “for any distress or offence” caused. The new footage, part of a documentary by ITV Exposure to be screened on Sunday night, captured the conversation between Mr Farage and Mr Sumner following a press conference where the party leader said Mr Parry should apologise. open image in gallery Secretly filmed footage showed Mr Farage telling his director of communications, Ed Sumner, that the party’s mayor candidate for Hampshire and the Solent, Chris Parry, must apologise to David Lammy ( ITV ) It showed Mr Farage saying Mr Parry “must apologise to Lammy”, before Mr Sumner tells him they had written him a text that he’s “not too happy with”. Mr Farage said: “No, I'm sure, but he must do it and move on…Tell him that from me.” When the Reform UK leader left, Mr Sumner said: “He's lucky, if it was up to me, I'd have kicked him out f***ing months ago.” Mr Parry was l ater suspended after he appeared to liken a Jewish neighbourhood watch group to “Islamists on horseback” following an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances. Mr Sumner told ITV News: “Nothing in the excerpts [of filming] discloses any wrongdoing, criminal activity or breaches of Reform UK policy by me… I do not endorse extremism or bigotry, or any concealment of extremism and bigotry”. open image in gallery Mr Parry was widely condemned after he urged then-deputy prime minister David Lammy to “go home to the Caribbean” ( Reform UK ) Labour has condemned the footage as “shocking and deeply disturbing”, and told Mr Farage he needs to “urgently explain why he allegedly stood by [Mr Parry]..... instead of kicking him out of his party”. “These latest shocking and deeply disturbing revelations go right to the top of Reform UK, Nigel Farage needs to wake up and realise the buck stops with him,” Labour party chair Bridget Phillipson said. “Time and again Farage has had every opportunity to demonstrate leadership and get Reform’s house in order and every single time he has failed. “In Reform’s own words: they’re defending the indefensible. They are completely unfit for office.” Other revelations, which come a day after the same investigation secretly filmed councillors calling Muslims “parasites” and describing Black children as “animals”, include Reform MP Sarah Pochin saying senior party officials “just exclude you if you are a woman”. Speaking at a time she was the party’s only female member of parliament, Ms Pochin said in response to being told a new female press officer was starting work: “Oh thank f*** for that. God! We so need women press officers… They are so f***ing chauvinistic. open image in gallery Reform MP Sarah Pochin said senior party officials “just exclude you if you are a woman” ( ITV ) “I go out on all the shows and go ‘Oh no, it’s lovely, oh they’re all so welcoming’. Sh**... they just exclude you if you’re a woman... “It’s really tough being a girl with all of this alpha male sh** going on.” A Reform UK spokesperson said Ms Pochin had raised concerns about her experience, and “those concerns were taken seriously”. “Reform has come a long way as a party. We’ve grown enormously in a short space of time, and we’ve been working to address issues as they arise,” they said. An undercover reporter was also told to delete their social media account if they were considering running to be a Reform UK councillor. In a vetting interview with the chair of a local Reform branch in Chester, Ian Frost, the reporter told him he had posted on social media in support of Tommy Robinson. Mr Frost replied: “Anything where you've got, things, Tommy Robinson or anything like that, okay, I would delete the account and I'd start again.” Reform UK said it is “extremely concerned” that ITV and Hardcash Productions have “used extreme methods of deception”. “There is no room for racism in Reform UK,” they said. “We always respect due process of investigations and whilst these are ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.” The Independent approached Ms Pochin for comment.