ITV News says one of its undercover reporters was asked if he would consider standing to be a councillor, after spending time leafleting with Reform activists.<\/p>\n
He meets with the chairman of a local Reform branch in Chester, Ian Frost, who describes the meeting as “the first stage” of the vetting process.<\/p>\n
After the reporter says he has previously posted in support of Robinson on social media, Frost advises him to delete the posts.<\/p>\n
“Anything where you’ve got, things, Tommy Robinson or anything like that, okay, I would delete the account and I’d start again,” Frost adds.<\/p>\n
Farage has said Robinson would not be allowed to join Reform.<\/p>\n
Frost later suggests the undercover reporter could apply to stand for the party, saying: “You might become a councillor. You might then want to go to the MP route. So, social media, yeah. And apply.”<\/p>\n
Frost told ITV News he thought the reporter was a genuine candidate and gave him the benefit of the doubt. <\/p>\n
He added that it was not fair to judge people on a single conversation and he had since left Reform for unrelated reasons.<\/p>\n
In another part of the film, a former Reform candidate – Alex Lomas – claims he failed the party’s vetting process twice, including for sharing social media posts from Robinson.<\/p>\n
However, Lomas says a few days after he failed for the second time he was asked to stand for the party.<\/p>\n
“On my second application, I got declined on the Friday, I got an email from them on the Tuesday saying you’ve passed vetting,” he is recorded as saying.<\/p>\n
“I said, well, I think you better check with your paperwork, mate, because I’ve just failed on Friday. Now, you’re saying I’ve passed it, I’ve not changed anything. <\/p>\n
“And then I got a phone call a few days later. Hi, will you stand for Reform UK? I’m like, yeah okay.”<\/p>\n
He stood for Reform in local elections in Oldham in May but did not win a seat on the council.<\/p>\n
The BBC has not been able to contact Lomas and he did not respond to requests for comment from ITV News.<\/p>\n
Reform denies Lomas failed vetting in the first place.<\/p>\n
ITV’s undercover report also shows Farage ruling a controversial mayoral candidate Dr Chris Parry \u2013 who said the then Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy should go home to the Caribbean<\/a> \u2013 should be made to apologise, but not stand down.<\/p>\n In a conversation at Reform’s headquarters, the party’s director of communications Ed Sumner suggests Farage is “protecting” Parry.<\/p>\n In response Farage says: “It’s showing a bit of sorrow.”<\/p>\n In a separate conversation several weeks earlier, where Farage was not present, Sumner is recorded saying Parry is “clearly a racist” and “needs to go”.<\/p>\n