"It hurts and it makes me angry"
Rishi Sunak has detailed his hurt and anger at his daughters having to hear Reform UK activists directing racist slurs towards him.
He was responding after supporters of Nigel Farage’s party were recorded making racist comments, including about the Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak said: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing ‘P***’.
“It hurts and it makes me angry and I think he has some questions to answer.
“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.”
During an election campaign visit to a school in Teesside, Mr Sunak said:
“And as prime minister, but more importantly as a father of two young girls, it’s my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour.”
Rishi Sunak said he repeated the racist slur because it was important to challenge it.
He continued: “I hate having to do it, I chose my words deliberately, I hate having to repeat them, absolutely hate it.
“But I also think it’s important to call this out for what it is and be clear about what it is.”
A Reform UK activist in the constituency where Nigel Farage is standing was secretly filmed making racist comments about Rishi Sunak, as well as using Islamophobic and other offensive language.
Andrew Parker had been filmed as part of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News.
He said:
“I’ve always been a Tory voter, but what annoys me is that f***ing P*** we’ve got in.”
“What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F***ing useless.”
Parker also called Islam “a cult”, saying:
“We’re f***ing kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoon’s.”
Watch the Undercover Report. Warning – Offensive Language
Exclusive: Undercover inside Reform’s campaign – evidence of homophobia and canvasser’s racism
Watch the full report by @darshnasoni pic.twitter.com/NqH2RSDy6X
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 27, 2024
Mr Farage said the comments amounted to “some pretty unpleasant things… very prejudiced, very wrong”.
He added: “Mr Parker would not be welcome back.”
In a statement to Channel 4, Mr Farage said:
“I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign.
“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform UK policy.
“Some of the language used was reprehensible.”
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