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ITV News Correspondent Romilly Weeks and ITV Political Editor Robert Peston reflect on the latest of a string of scandals involving Reform, although Nigel Farage says other parties have issues with vetting procedures.
Warning: This report contains racist and offensive language.
Reform UK councillors, who were filmed expressing racist, Islamophobic and sexist views and using offensive language in an undercover investigation by ITV Exposure, are facing calls to resign.
The investigation obtained secretly recorded footage of elected Reform officials across England and Wales using violent, racist and sexist language, including calling Muslims “parasites” and describing black children as “animals”.
Reform UK told ITV News they were investigating the findings by ITV Exposure, and that “a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting. This is the same for all organisations.”
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “We’ve allowed a poison into our politics in recent years and it’s time to to draw a line on it.”
The PM praised comments by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch at the Conservative Party conference in which she “drew a line” between “her party and and that type of politics”.
“We all need to call it out more and I’m pleased ITV has done this,” he added. “There is no place for any form of racism, antisemitism or discrimination in British politics.
“I hope the Reform Party will take immediate and firm action against those who’ve been revealed to be making these abhorrent comments.”
In response to ITV News’ investigation, 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.
“As every day passes, the evidence piles up yet higher as to why Nigel Farage and Reform are completely unfit for office.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also described the footage as “chilling” in a post on social media.
“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,” he wrote. “We can’t let it become Farage’s Britain.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Nigel Farage promised to make Reform ready for government. These sorry individuals are proof he has failed.”
James Cleverly, a Tory former shadow cabinet minister who now aims to run for Mayor of London, said comments made by councillors in the investigation were “abhorrent”.
“The narrative from Reform is less and less about low taxes, less regulation, smaller government etc. and more and more about race and skin colour,” he wrote.”There will be plenty of voters and people who defected to Reform who will see these comments and be disgusted. This is not what they were promised and it is not what they want.”
In the documentary for ITV Exposure, reporters went undercover with Reform UK candidates and councillors across England and Wales during the May local elections and four by-election campaigns in 2025 and 2026.
In Solihull, reporters joined Reform Councillor Alan Feeney, who was campaigning to retain his seat, and candidates Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan.
The investigation showed Reform councillors and candidates expressing views that are racist and sexist Credit: ITV Exposure
Councillor Feeney was secretly recorded expressing racist views about Asian people and Muslims in particular. He told undercover reporters the area has been “infested” with Asian families, and called them “absolute parasites”.
He said he believed that “no more than one percent of British population can be non-white” and said of South Asian people: “Drag them out of their homes, stick them on planes and f*** them off to Pakistan”.
The investigation also showed Whelan discussing sexually assaulting another female Reform candidate in Birmingham, while Campbell described burying pork in the ground to prevent a mosque from being built in Castle Bromwich.
Feeney, Campbell and Whelan were all elected as Reform councillors in May, and Feeney was appointed deputy Mayor of Solihull Borough Council.
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Liam Byrne, MP for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, called on the officials to resign.
“The extremist, racist views of these local councillors exposed by ITV News quite simply can have absolutely no place in our public life. The councillors should resign immediately,” said Byrne.
“The behaviour revealed in this investigation is utterly incompatible with either common decency or the standards we expect of those elected to serve. Our communities deserve representatives who serve their neighbours, not people who spread hatred against them.”
“We will be taking steps immediately to report these individuals to the Monitoring Officer at Solihull and Birmingham Councils to demand an immediate investigation.”
ITV Exposure’s findings were put to Feeney, Campbell and Whelan by ITV News, but they have yet to respond.
On Monday evening, Feeney said he had “mutually agreed” to resign from Reform UK, citing “personal reasons”, but would be continuing as an Independent councillor. Whelan has also resigned from Reform for personal and health reasons.
A Solihull Council spokesperson said: “There is no place for this disgusting racist discriminatory and misogynistic language in public life, and these comments do not represent the values of Solihull Council, our staff or our residents.
“We have received a resignation from Mr Whelan and will be investigating the complaints made against Cllrs Feeney and Campbell.”
The investigation also depicted Dean Miller, a Reform Councillor in Bromley, South London, describing black children as “animals” and claiming King Charles is secretly a Muslim who needs to be decapitated.
Miller told ITV News he was heavily medicated at the time due to a chronic pain condition, and he has now resigned from Reform UK.
Raymond Dunning, a Reform councillor in Tameside, Greater Manchester, was also recorded saying he would deport legal migrants and wished to train young men “so they can go street-by-street, house-by-house picking the c**** up”.
Dunning has been approached for comment.
When asked about the reaction to the investigation, Reform UK told ITV News: “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.”
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