Reform UK has reported Channel 4 to the elections watchdog over “scandalous election interference” after an investigation by the broadcaster recorded an alleged canvasser spouting racist and homophobic comments.
Andrew Parker referred to Sunak as a "f****** p***" while canvassing in Clacton, Essex, where Farage is standing as an MP.
However, Parker has been accused of being an actor with Farage claiming he may have been paid.
Party Secretary and leading barrister Adam Richardson has also made a formal complaint to Essex police on Farage’s behalf under Section S106 of the 1983 Representation of the People Act accusing actor Andrew Parker of knowingly making false statements about a candidate during an election campaign.
He has also expressed that he will be demanding an Ofcom investigation.
Reform UK reports Channel 4 to elections watchdog over ‘scandalous election interference’ PA/CHANNEL 4In a letter to the Election Commission, Richardson revealed that “Parker is not a property developer as he has alleged but a jobbing actor.
“A search of the Companies House reveals that Parker incorporated a company called ClearWater Estates Limited on 16 February 2018, which has filed exclusively dormant accounts. Parker is the only registered director.”
Richardson added that it was “entirely evident that Parker was a plant within the Channel 4 news piece.
“It is wholly unbelievable that by complete coincidence Channel 4 were performing an undercover investigation and by chance were paired up to go canvassing with a man who was pretending to be someone else, using a false voice and saying almost exclusively racist and bigoted remarks.
Nigel Farage spoke out about the incident
X
“The Channel 4 broadcast has clearly been made to harm Reform UK during an election period and this cannot be described as anything short of election interference.
“It is entirely untrue that Parker had any connection with Farage as he details in the documentary and has obviously attempted to use this fictional association to smear him in the national media and damage his campaign.
“This is an absolute scandal, election interference on a national scale and potentially fraud. We request an immediate investigation into both Parker and Channel 4 news, including any production houses that might have been used to create the piece.
“Farage is standing for election within a regulated period and it flies in the face of the law and democracy itself if a national broadcaster can film an actor lying about his association with the leader of the second most popular political party and broadcast it with impunity.”
POLITICS LATEST:Speaking on his YouTube channel today, Farage addressed the “attacks” against his party, which he claims is evidence they are performing well.
“Six days to go util the General Election, and boy we are doing well”, he said.
“How do I know? The level of attacks. To begin with, they’ve dug out a statement from me ten years ago saying I thought there’d be a war in Ukraine, that we’ve made some terrible errors of expanding Nato in the European Union.
“Well, I was right. They were all wrong. Funny isn’t it? That gets conflated into support for Vladimir Putin, which I never have. I have always thought he’s a very bad and dangerous person.
“That was the beginning. That was the beginning of the real pushback against Reform UK, against the momentum that is happening out there in the country.”
He continued: “Over the last 24 hours, a so-called Reform UK activist turns up in the Clacton office, goes out with an undercover, apparently Channel 4 team, and makes a series of very racist, derogatory remarks about Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, about people crossing the Channel.
“I watched this stuff and thought it’s just so over the top. This is like an Alf Garnett comedy sketch going back 50 years.
“Yet overnight, we found out that the guy is an actor. The Daily Telegraph called him this morning and he denied it.
“After a short period of time, he admitted to other media outlets that he was an actor. Then we found out he had his own website where he speaks and advertises his services for adverts.
“He describes himself as being very well spoken, but he has an alter ego.”
The canvasser was filmed spouting racist and homophobic slurs
Channel 4
Farage went on to hit out at Channel 4, calling the whole affair a “stitch up on the most astonishing scale”.
He added: “An activist for a party, not a candidate, who holds no position whatsoever, makes the front page of the Times newspaper.
“The Prime Minister responds to say how awful he feels for his two daughters about these racist remarks that were made about his family.
“Folks, this is the biggest stitch-up I have ever seen in my life.”
Channel 4 has stood by its “rigorous and duly impartial journalism”.
“We met Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
“We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation.”
Channel 4 and the Electoral Commission have been approached for comment
