A Reform UK campaigner who was caught on camera calling Rishi Sunak a racial slur has apologised for his remarks but insisted he was “goaded” into making them.
Andrew Parker said “of course” he regrets the language he used but claimed it was just “typical chaps-down-the-pub talk” in “the heat of the moment.”
Mr Parker was recorded by an undercover Channel 4 reporter saying that migrants crossing the English Channel should be used as “target practice” and using a derogatory term to refer to the Prime Minister.
Party leader Nigel Farage subsequently used reports that the canvasser was a part-time actor to suggest the “whole episode does not add up”.
Mr Farage has sought to distance himself from the comments, saying he was “dismayed” by the “appalling sentiments” expressed.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Parker confirmed he worked as an actor but suggested it was separate to the volunteering he had done for the party.
He told PA: “Of course I regret what I said. I’m old school. Christ, I’m not a racist. I’ve had Muslim girlfriends. It was typical chaps-down-the-pub talk.”
Asked why he had made the remarks, Mr Parker said: “It was in the heat of the moment. I was goaded on.”
He suggested the undercover reporter had been “making jokes and bits and pieces” which were not included in the published footage, but would not expand on what he was claiming the journalist had said.
Channel 4 has said it stands by its “rigorous and duly impartial journalism which speaks for itself”.
Asked whether he would like to apologise for the comments, which were later rebuked by the Prime Minister, he said: “Of course I’m sorry. They were off-the-cuff things that everyone says.”
Mr Parker said he had got involved with Reform by contacting the party offering to do some leafleting because he believed in Mr Farage’s message, but had not mentioned that he was an actor.
Later on Friday, the Prime Minister addressed the canvasser’s remarks directly, saying the slur “hurts and it makes me angry” and that the Reform UK leader has “questions to answer”.
“My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing p***,” Mr Sunak said.
“And I don’t repeat those words lightly. I do so deliberately, because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is.”
Mr Farage has previously faced questions over some Reform UK candidates and the party has withdrawn support for several people prior to the General Election after investigations uncovered remarks they had made previously.
But others who have been criticised for their language have retained Reform’s backing, including Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford, who reportedly said he would “slaughter” migrants and “have their families taken out”.
On Thursday, the Reform leader claimed his candidates “in most cases” were “just speaking like ordinary folk”.
He added: “In some cases one or two people let us down and we let them go.”
Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Farage faced a “test of leadership” over the footage, adding: “You have to ask the question why so many people who are supporting Reform seem to be exposed in this particular way.”
A spokesperson for Channel 4 News said: “We strongly stand by our rigorous and duly impartial journalism which speaks for itself.
“We met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser.
“We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation.”