Up next in 10
Lewis Goodall debated Matt Goodwin, a Reform member and GB News presenter on the latest scandal to hit the party.
A Reform councillor said he would "quite happily" carry out executions of grooming gang perpetrators in the Rose Garden at Downing Street, while Nigel Farage appeared to joke about racism and antisemitism allegations from his school days, fresh undercover footage has revealed.
The footage, recorded for the ITV documentary Undercover: A Year in Reform, is the latest release from a year-long investigation into Nigel Farage's party.
At a Reform event, Mr Farage addressed allegations made by former classmates that he displayed racist and antisemitic behaviour while at Dulwich College.
He told the audience: "There's lots of banter [...] Some of the banter I've no doubt I'll get a hard time for in forty years' time."
Mr Farage said in November 2025 he was sorry if anyone had been upset by his behaviour, but denied ever racially abusing anyone directly.
In separate footage from the latest episode of the documentary, Reform councillor Adam Parkins said he would "quite happily do Sunday morning Rose Garden executions" of people involved in child sexual exploitation gangs.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#lewisgoodall #farage #reform #immigration #uk #debate #mattgoodwin #news #LBC
LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/
Sign up to LBC's weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Reform have obviously had another pretty turbulent week following the ITV News exposure
0:05
documentary, Undercover a Year in Reform. It's actually only airing tonight at 10.20, but we've obviously seen a lot of the clips
0:15
and news stories from it dribble out over the course of the last three days or so
0:19
It sparked a bit of a crisis for the party, revealing some of its candidates to show racist
0:25
attitudes, anti-Muslim sentiments, and ITV says extremism among some of the party's candidates
0:33
councillors and activists. Have a listen to Sarah Poachin. She's the party's only
0:37
female MP, of course, in Runcorn. Her account of her time at the top of the party
0:43
I'm a press officer. I'm starting in January. Oh, my God! Really? I can't f***ing f*** for that
0:50
We're so many women press officers. Yeah, they are so f***ing chauvinistic
0:55
I go out on all the shows and go, oh, that's lovely. Oh, that's so welcoming
1:00
What are they doing? They're just exudiant if you're a woman. There's a bit of a bell issue going on
1:07
Reform have said, we should say, in a statement that not all individuals covertly recorded by ITV and members of Reform UK
1:12
where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced
1:17
In some cases, there have been suspensions and due process must be followed. This is one of the latest bits that have been released
1:23
This was Alan Feeney out on the campaign trail back in May in Solihull
1:28
If it's an Asian name, I'm not even knocking the door. They are not voting reform and I ain't wasting my time
1:34
He's trying to get re-elected in an area he says has too many Asian households
1:39
Look at this. One, two, three, four, five. That one might belong to him, I don't know
1:44
but again, this is just what we're infested with. That's why they're buying along here, because the houses have got big gardens
1:51
They're parasites, absolute parasite. It's like on partridge, isn't it? Alan's rice is killed, what's he
2:02
Well, a reminder, Undercover, a year in reform is broadcast tonight at 10.20 on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player
2:08
Well, let's talk now to Matt Goodwin, who, of course, is a political commentator, but also a former parliamentary candidate in Gorton and Denson for the party
2:18
Matt Goodwin, when you hear language like infested, as a party member, how does that make you feel
2:24
Well, I've got to be honest with you, Lewis, you actually missed out some of the harder quotes as well
2:28
And when I heard them, I actually winced because some of the comments that were made by one or two individuals
2:35
particularly regarding women, I thought were absolutely outrageous. I'm happy that the party has suspended many of those individuals
2:46
I think some of them I read yesterday have gone on actually to lose their jobs as well
2:53
And I'm as outraged as everybody else. It is also true, though, Lewis, that no other political party in British politics has ever faced anything like this
3:05
A year-long investigation, unprecedented scrutiny. I would like the journalists at the ITV to now do the same investigation into every other political party in British politics
3:18
I think that would only be fair. There have been undercover investigations and exposes of parties before
3:24
For example, in Jeremy Corbyn's time, there were multiple investigations into anti-Semitism within the Labour Party
3:30
and multiple people, as a result of the recordings that were made, had to leave their jobs or leave their positions and so on
3:36
This is obviously a very substantial investigation, no question about that. But it isn't true, is it, that reform are being uniquely targeted
3:44
No, I think absolutely it is true. Look, both things can be true at the same time. You can be as outraged as I am
3:49
Lewis, I'm a father. When I heard some of those comments, I was absolutely disgusted, all right
3:53
There's no getting around that. But it is also true at the same time that over this year we have had a sustained and coordinated attack on Reform UK I want to see the investigations into anti within the Green Party I want to see an investigation into the Labour Party
4:12
into the grooming gangs. I want to see a year-long undercover investigation. I want to see their
4:17
financial records, which are being leaked, like ours have allegedly been leaked. And I want to
4:23
see them come under the same degree of scrutiny as Reform UK. Why do you think it is that so many
4:29
people with apparently such extremist views with regards to race or regards to sex, as you talk
4:35
about, what is it about Reform UK that seems to attract them so much? I don't think there is
4:40
anything that's unique about Reform UK. I think if you look at every party, what tends to happen
4:45
and we know this from research, the activists that are drawn into political parties, whether Labour
4:51
Tory, Green, Reform, whatever, SMP, they tend to be much more radical than most ordinary people
4:59
Now, Reform UK has two and a half thousand councillors. We're about to field 10,000
5:04
councillors at the local elections next year. We've got a membership of nearly 300,000 people
5:10
Inevitably, you are going to attract a few people who say idiotic and outrageous things
5:17
ITV have recorded 365 incidents. That's more than a few, isn't it
5:21
Well, divide 365 by nearly 300,000. And obviously, by definition, they were only coming into contact with a relatively small percentage of those people
5:31
And they still managed to find 365 people or 350, 65 incidents
5:36
First of all, right, if this was a nobody in this debate, Lewis, is denying what those comments are about and they're outrageous
5:43
But I would like to see ITV release all of their footage because they would also have had to speak to hundreds, if not thousands of activists and councillors
5:53
A lot of their content simply won't be aired because it won't come anywhere. Maybe there's a we've heard we've heard we've heard Matt Goodwin
6:00
Obviously, that's ysis from reform people this week that it's a few bad apples
6:04
Maybe there's another way of looking at it, which is those bad apples aren't falling far from the tree
6:07
Maybe this is about culture. Maybe this is about the messages that the political messages that people like you at the top of the party have sent, which has attracted these people
6:16
So, for example, Suela Braverman talking about an invasion, a historically far right trope
6:21
Maybe it's about Zia Youssef identifying a Labour Somalian politician and saying we all know what's happening here
6:26
Maybe it's about Sarah Poach in talking that she was disappointed about the number of non-white faces in TV adverts
6:33
Maybe it's about Nigel Farage talking about a fifth column in British politics. Maybe it's about you talking about drug-dealing goat herders at Reform Party conference
6:40
Maybe someone on the extreme right or the far right hearing people like you using language like that might just think, you know what, boys, this is the party for me
6:49
Are we not supposed to talk about the drug-dealing goat herders? Drug-dealing goat herders
6:54
Do you think that that elevated the rhetoric and tone of British politics when you did that
6:58
Are we not supposed to talk about what's happened to the people of Aberwisweth
7:01
I'm just sort of thinking, Matt Goodwin. completely decimated by Iraqi goat herders who were illegally and then set up a cocaine and heroin ring and destroyed the lives of British kids
7:12
I'm just sort of thinking that maybe when you hear language like that and you hear it and you combine it with all the other things that I'm talking about
7:18
from the very top of the party, that it's not a complete surprise that people with perhaps rather uncivilised views about race and sex and the rest of it think
7:26
I might want to join you. Lewis, I would remind you that the last political party in British politics that was officially designated a racist political party by the EHRC, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, was the Labour Party, which investigated widespread institutional anti-Semitism
7:42
We would like to see a similar investigation now into the Green Party
7:47
We'd like to see why Kemi Badenock... Look over there. Don't look at us. Look over there
7:52
Why was Kemi Badenock and the Tories? Why were they defending a neo-Nazi within their ranks only a few weeks ago
7:59
Let be frank This is not unique to Reform UK I would also just like to say that Nigel Farage for the last 16 years I don hear other parties I don hear other parties using the sort of language that senior figures
8:11
in your party do. Let's just look at some of the substance. An aspiring reform candidate..
8:15
We're not going to give the left a free pass on this. No, no, for sure
8:19
I mean, there have been... Pro-Hamas Islamist sympathisers are endemic on the left
8:24
of British politics. I'm talking specifically about some of the tone, in particular towards, say
8:29
Muslims that we've heard from your party. An aspiring reform candidate reportedly says that Muslims cannot be British unless they renounce their faith as part of this documentary
8:38
Can you tell Muslim listeners unequivocally that you, the people listening and watching this, are every bit as British as you or I
8:45
I think British Muslims are British. I think we should also have a debate about the extent to which Islam, in a broad sense, is compatible with Western civilization
8:53
We're allowed to have that debate. Our country believes in free speech. We believe in free expression
8:58
The other thing I would just say, there is a long line of councillors from every political party under the sun that say idiotic, outrageous things and they are suspended and they are pushed out of political life
9:17
Nigel Farage, for the last 16 years, and I think it's fair to say I know him a little bit better than a lot of the people who are criticising him
9:25
He has held a constant line in British politics between mainstream political life and extremism
9:32
And he served a valuable function. What was his first reaction to these allegations
9:36
To suspend the people, to kick them out? Well, he didn't suspend Chris Parry, did he
9:40
He didn't suspend Chris Parry when he suggested that David Lammy's loyalties lay in the Caribbean rather than the UK
9:45
I wonder why Chris Parry thought that. We heard in this recording Farage didn't engage with the clear abhorrent racism that Parry used just because Lammy is black, suggesting he had loyalty to another country
9:57
Farage just said, well, just apologize just to just to basically allow him to move on
10:02
I actually know Nigel Farage very well. Nigel is the first. So what
10:06
He is the first person to kick people out for these kinds of things
10:11
He did it with Chris Parry. But hold the line on racism and extremism
10:15
We heard in this recording, Matt Goodwin, the director of comms from Reform said
10:19
this guy's a racist, we should get rid of him. We heard in the recording Farage defending him
10:24
So whether you know him well or not is beside the point. We all heard what Farage's reaction was to abhorrent racism
10:30
It was just apologise and move on rather than engage with the substance. I'm sorry, I saw that clip and I saw Nigel Farage say it is important that Reform UK apologise to David Lammy
10:41
I've also seen Nigel Farage... He just laughed about it, saying he's a rear admiral. He didn't laugh about it. Nigel's not laughing about this
10:47
Nigel is not laughing about this. He laughed about the fact he's a rear admiral. No, Nigel is kicking people out left, right and centre
10:53
Why didn't he kick out Chris Perry? Nigel's holding a line in British politics. But what he's also saying, Lewis, is how is it that Reform UK for over a year now
11:01
has had this sustained attack while Zach Polanski and the Greens, while the Labour Party, while the grooming gangs
11:06
while even the BBC have been given a free pass? Why don't we have the year-long investigation into those political organisations
11:13
Why don't we actually seriously have that investigation? It would be nice for ITV maybe to follow this up with an 18-month study
11:20
of who exactly Zach Polanski is attracting and bringing into mainstream court
11:25
Let's not talk about Zach Polanski. Let's talk about you. The problem is, Matt, look, you're an intelligent man
11:29
and I think you will be able to understand... I just want it to be applied evenly. You'll be able to understand the connection, the argument here, right
11:37
So let me just put this to you. The problem is, Matt, is that when you spend years and years
11:41
as a political party or senior people within the party, suggesting or explicitly saying that Islam is incompatible with Western values
11:49
some of those people will listen, some of the people out there will digest what you say
11:53
and come to the conclusion that they should be, as we've heard in these clips
11:57
that they are pests or vermin, or in one case, as we heard, should be beheaded in Downing Street
12:02
Do you accept that there could be a connection with some of the rhetoric that senior people including yourself at the party make every day and the fact that some of these people are attracted to your party yes or no
12:15
It's not a yes or no answer. Well, it really is. Let's think about the implications of what you're suggesting
12:20
What you're suggesting is we don't have a legitimate debate about Islam
12:25
We don't have... No, it's about how you do it. Can I finish? We don't have a legitimate debate about drug dealers in Aberystwyth who we're importing into our country
12:33
We don't have a legitimate debate about grooming gangs. That is the implication of what you're suggesting
12:38
It can both be true that we have difficult, controversial debates in a country which has
12:44
free speech, and those debates will attract extremists who need to be kicked out of mainstream
12:49
political life. Both of those things can be true. I don't like where your argument leads us, which is, well, we're not going to discuss
12:56
anything that's controversial because one or two bad apples might turn up
13:00
That's not the kind of society I want to live in. Something which is far right is the use of violence against minorities
13:06
And again, my point to you would be that when senior party figures or senior people from a party seek to defend people who have sought to incite violence against minorities, that will attract people who want violence against minorities
13:22
So, for example, to take you, for example, after Luke Yarwood, you'll know this case, received an 18-month sentence
13:27
You posted, welcome to the UK where you go to prison for 18 months for anti-immigration tweets
13:32
That is insane. You will know that Yarwood was in fact convicted of inciting racial hatred after he called on people to gang together
13:39
hit the streets and start the slaughter in a series of anti-Muslim and anti-immigration posts from December 24 to January 25
13:46
That isn't about a legitimate debate. That is about sending a signal that that sort of racial hatred and that sort of incitement to violence is actually can be made excuses for
13:57
I'm sorry. Nobody is legitimising violence. What I said, I can speak for myself
14:02
I support 100 percent and not everybody, by the way, on the right of British politics does
14:06
But I'm happy to defend my views. I support 100 percent the right of the British people to peacefully protest on the streets
14:15
He was talking about slaughter. And I don't personally think, my own personal view, not reflecting Reform UK
14:21
I don't think people should be sent to prison for what they write on social media
14:25
unless they are specifically inciting violence and murder. I'm more... He said start the slaughter
14:32
What's slaughter if not murder? It's about how we discuss the protests and how we discuss..
14:39
It's slaughter murder. ...that have been taking place in this country. There is a view in Westminster, in SW1, that everybody involved in these protests is somehow an extremist and a far right
14:51
I think saying start the slaughter is an extreme view. Would you not? What I've said consistently, what I've said consistently is if you are peacefully protesting on the streets, my personal view is I support you because what's happened is the system here is pushing the British people to the edge
15:08
I think one of the reasons why, actually, if you talk about bad apples, I think one of the reasons why people have been expressing these pretty outrageous comments is because the system overall is pushing the British people to the very edge
15:21
You think Luke Yardwood was pushed by the system to say gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter
15:26
It was a system, not Mr. Yardwood. No, I do not condone any kind of violence. But it is also true, Lewis, that we wouldn't have had protests and we would not have now protests in this country had Westminster been controlling our borders and not allowing, as we read today in the Mail on Sunday, an ISIS terrorist who was part of a group who beheaded Ken Bigley is walking the streets of Windsor
15:53
How on earth is that acceptable in this country? How on earth is that right
15:57
It's not. And then the British people who do protest peacefully, they're blamed and they're called far right and they're called ignorant when they're saying we just don't want to live with this chaos anymore
16:08
Matt Goodwin, who is a former Reform UK spokesperson, really grateful for your time this morning
news