Nigel Farage says he has been let down after one of his campaigners was filmed saying small boats migrants should be used as “target practice”, as the General Election campaign enters the final week.
An undercover Channel 4 reporter recorded one canvasser calling for migrants crossing the English Channel to be used as “target practice” and another describing the Pride flag as a “degenerate” ensign and suggesting members of the LGBT+ community are paedophiles.
At a £5-a-head event on the campaign trail in Boston, Lincolnshire, Mr Farage said: “We’ve had one or two candidates that have said things they shouldn’t have said. In most cases they’re just speaking like ordinary folk.
“They’re not part of the mainstream political Oxbridge speak, we understand that. In some cases one or two people let us down and we let them go.
“Well, compare that to the international price fixing and betting ring that is the modern day Conservative Party.”
He made his remarks moments after Channel 4 News broadcast an undercover investigation into Reform UK’s Clacton campaign, where Mr Farage is contesting the seat against Conservative incumbent Giles Watling.
The broadcaster recorded canvasser Andrew Parker saying army recruits should use migrants arriving by small boats in Kent as “target practice”, as well as using a racial slur against the Prime Minister and labelling Islam a “disgusting cult”.
In a statement sent to Channel 4 News, Mr Parker said: “I would like to make it clear that neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration.”
He added: “I have never discussed immigration with either Nigel Farage or the Reform Party and that any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on. At no time before I was sent out to canvass did I discuss my personal views with any representative of the Reform Party UK or Nigel Farage.
“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention.”
On the same day, the Guardian reported that Reform UK withdrew support from its Basingstoke, Hampshire, candidate Raymond Saint, who allegedly appeared on a list of BNP members published on the website WikiLeaks more than a decade ago.
Mr Farage has previously said he had an “absolute rule” to block anyone linked to the BNP or similar organisations from being a member of the party.
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