Nigel Farage accused of ‘protecting’ candidate his own team called ‘a bit of a racist’ over vile posts

Nigel Farage has been accused of "protecting" a Mayoral candidate by his own team who'd branded him a "racist". Reform UK was already in crisis after an undercover TV sting by ITV showed one councillor describing Asian homeowners as "parasites" and another suggesting the King should be beheaded for secretly being Muslim. Now new footage shows Reform aides discussing Dr Chris Parry, Reform’s candidate to be the Mayor of Hampshire and the Solent, who had posted on social media that the then Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy “must go home to the Caribbean where [his] loyalty lies”. Dr Parry had also questioned in social media posts the loyalty of eight other prominent Black and Muslim politicians. Reform’s Director of Communications, Ed Sumner, said he was “clearly a racist”. Three weeks later after Mr Farage asked for an apology but had refused to sack Dr Parry, the same aide who allegedly told the Reform leader he was “protecting him”. In response, Mr Farage said Parry would have to apologise. The Reform chief was filmed saying; “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. Trouble is he's a Rear Admiral. That's the problem." The latest revelations also show Reform MP Sarah Pochin said the Reform press team was "f***ing chauvinistic". Reform insist there has been no wrongdoing. Earlier Andy Burnham demanded Mr Farage takes "immediate and firm" action against Reform councillors caught using racist and sexist language in the TV sting. Mr Burnham said it was time to draw a line under the "poison" in British politics. Reform says it is investigating a number of cases and has suspended some members after the videos came to light. The Prime Minister said: "We've allowed a poison into our politics in recent years, and it's time to draw a line under it. In fact, I praised the Leader of the Opposition ( Kemi Badenoch ) in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, who herself drew a line at her party conference between her party and that type of politics, and we all need to call it out more. "I'm pleased ITV has done this. There is no place for any form of racism, antisemitism, discrimination in British politics, and we all should be relentless in repeating that and taking the firmest possible action. "And I hope the Reform Party will take immediate and firm action against those who've been revealed to be making these abhorrent comments." On Wednesday footage showed Reform councillor Alan Feeney, deputy mayor of Solihull, claim that his area was "infested" with Asian homeowners. He was seen suggesting the government should "drag them out of their homes". Another clip showed a South London councillor, Dean Miller, saying the King should be beheaded after claiming the monarch is secretly a Muslim. He also described Black children as "f***** animals". And Raymond Dunning, who claimed to have been asked by Reform to run as an MP, said on camera: "I'm so far-right it's unbelievable." Further clips, recorded during a year-long investigation, showed councillor Chris Whelan making vile sexual remarks about a female Reform colleague. The footage - set to feature in a 90-minute documentary to be screened on Sunday - raises questions about vetting by Reform UK. Secretly-recorded video shows Mr Feeney looking at cars on a driveway in an area he claims has too many Asian homeowners. In it he said claimed it was "infested" - and added: "They're parasites, absolute parasites”. And unaware he was being filmed, he told an undercover reporter: "When a house comes up for sale, white people need to be in there. You almost need to f***ing out-Muslim the Muslims.” Mr Feeney also said: "I’d be saying no more than 1% of [the] British population can be non-white… you'd need a proper nuclear option, like literally drag them out of their homes..." And he also said the UK was getting to a point where Muslims could be banned from public office. Mr Feeney announced he had left Reform for personal reasons this week. Another undercover clip shows Dean Miller, a Reform councillor in Bromley, southeast London, claiming King Charles was Muslim, because "someone from the inside" had seen a prayer mat. He branded the monarch "traitorous" and in an expletive-filled diatribe said his head should be cut off. In a statement sent to The Mirror, Mr Miller said he had resigned the party whip, adding: "This decision was taken due to a catastrophic, multi-layered failure of the duty of care and safeguarding by party leadership at both local and national levels." He continued: "Any footage obtained by undercover operatives occurred when I was suffering from acute physical and neurological distress, sleep deprivation, and heavily under the influence of strong, legally prescribed neurological pain medications. Any remarks captured during this period of severe cognitive impairment does not reflect my character, my beliefs, or my years of dedicated humanitarian and public health service." Another Solihull Reform councilor, Chris Whelan, is accused of making misogynistic comments about a female Reform candidate. He announced on Monday that he had resigned from Reform. The Mirror has contacted Mr Feeney, Mr Dunning and Mr Whelan for comment. Responding to the latest revelations, Mr Sumner said: “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”. Dr Parry told ITV: “I would urge people to go back to the original contexts and tweets to see what was said and why. “They related to reparations and failures by the police and government. They will see I always exercise my right to criticise anyone in power or the public eye, whom I judge to be acting against the interests of the British people.” A Reform’s spokesperson said: "Not all individuals covertly recorded by ITV are members of Reform UK. 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. “Reform UK has improved and prioritised its vetting procedures, but 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. “There is no room for racism in Reform UK. We always respect due process of investigations and whilst these are ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.” Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said: "The extreme racism and appalling behaviour exposed by this investigation is truly sickening. Nigel Farage can't shrug these latest revelations off as being a few bad apples. "Every Reform councillor, council candidate or party member found to have made such despicable comments must be thrown out of Reform UK immediately. "Nigel Farage needs to explain why this keeps happening in his party and why he is failing to deal with blatant racism among those who stand for public office with his backing. It's clear that Farage and his party are determined to poison our politics and threaten the shared British values Labour will always proudly defend." Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey described ITV's report as "chilling", and said: "I feel for anyone watching this tonight who is frightened to see such racism and hatred festering in their community. It's the very worst of what we're seeing in Trump's America. We can't let it become Farage's Britain." The accusations are among those set to feature in 90-minute film Undercover: A Year In Reform, Sunday 18th October at 10.20pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV & STV Player.