Nigel Farage has seemed to claim that racist and sexist comments made by Reform candidates are because they did not go to Oxford University or Eton College.
Reform have once again become embroiled in scandal this week ahead after an undercover investigation from ITV News recorded councillors for the party making racist and sexually aggressive comments.
Undercover: A Year in Reform included secretly recorded footage of a Reform councillor and deputy mayor of Solihull labelling Asian homeowners “parasites”.
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Later in the film, the councillor, Alan Feeney, says the local area has been “infested” with Asian families, and that he believes “no more than one per cent of the British population can be non-white.”
Other footage shows candidates making sexually aggressive comments about a female Reform candidate, joking about how to stop a mosque being built in the local area, and saying of Asian people “drag them out of their homes, stick them on planes and f*** them off to Pakistan.”
On Thursday, new clips released by ITV showed Farage talking with senior party officials about accusations of racism against party figures.
Officials are captured telling Farage they have to “defend the indefensible” and explain to him how he would be “protecting” a Reform candidate from being sacked.
Addressing accusations of racism from Reform candidate Chris Parry against Labour MP David Lammy, Farage pushes back against calls from head of communications Chris Sumner to sack Parry.
Now, Farage has attacked ITV over the investigation in which he claims similar comments are made by people “everywhere” and suggested it was just a case of people not being able to “express themselves in very carefully formulate language.”
In a statement to the Express, Farage claimed ITV had captured him “telling a joke” and that the broadcaster would “not do this to any other party.”
After spouting usual claims about establishment bias against Reform, Farage said: “Maybe what I’ll do is I’ll commission a team of undercover [operatives], and we’ll go and speak to a thousand Tory councillors. You’ll find worse. You’ll find it everywhere. You’ll find it in the pub tonight.
“It’s people, and particularly if they’re provoking conversation. Not everyone’s been to Oxford University. Not everyone’s been to Eton. Not everyone expresses themselves in very carefully formulated language”
The suggestion that a lack of high-end education is the reason for Reform candidates making horrific racist and sexist comments has been mocked by many.