Up next in 10
Reform UK is facing several allegations from the ITV documentary, Undercover: A Year in Reform, which was clandestinely filmed by a reporter working in the party's press office.
Reform MP Sarah Pochin accused her party's press officers of being 'chauvinistic', and Nigel Farage is told by an official that he is 'protecting' a 'racist' candidate in bombshell new undercover footage.
Lewis Goodall joins Shelagh Fogarty to react to the party's latest scandal.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
Now we spoke yesterday, didn't we, about ITV exposure, that programme
0:03
a full documentary coming out on Sunday night, I'm told at 10.20. They sent an undercover reporter inside the Reform Party in January of 2026
0:13
where she worked as a press officer. And this is a clip that came out of her conversation with Reform UK MP for Runcorn, Sarah Potchin
0:23
I'm a press officer. I'm passing in January. Oh my God! Really? I can't remember that
0:29
We so need women press officers. Yeah, they are so chauvinistic. I go out on all the shows and go, oh, that's lovely
0:38
Oh, that's so welcoming. What do they do? They just exceed you if you're a woman
0:44
There's a bit of a male issue here. Bit of a male issue here
0:48
They just exclude you if you're a woman. Lewis Goodall joins me, presenter of Sundays with Lewis Goodall on LBC
0:53
and co-host of Global's podcast, The News Agents. We're getting a drip feed here, aren't we, of audio
1:00
Yesterday we had racism, sexism, sexism with a sort of hint of incest about it
1:07
It was very unedified. Those are words I never thought I'd hear you say. Well, I'm sorry, but I have to
1:12
I'm just telling the news. So what do we make of what's emerging here
1:18
Because it's the latest in a long line of issues for reform, isn't it? It is
1:21
And look, I've spoken to reform people about this and we can maybe talk about what they think their defence would be in a second
1:28
But clearly, you know, some of these revelations are appalling. And clearly there are people
1:36
And the problem with it is, I think, Sheila, is that it rather goes to the heart of what Nigel Farage has said about these things before
1:44
which is talking about a few bad apples and we're taking real action against these bad apples
1:49
and some of this material, not all, would imply, particularly what came out last night
1:53
that Farage himself is not necessarily that committed to doing so. And I'm talking here in particular about, for example, Dr Chris Parry
2:01
Dr Chris Parry, who was Reform's candidate for the mayoralty of Southampton and the Solon
2:07
And Mr Parry said something that I think anybody any reasonable person would interpret as completely racist He said that the then Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy who was born and raised in Britain must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies
2:26
Now, I think anybody listening to that could only conclude that that is a deeply racist statement because, of course, Mr. Parry, Dr. Parry, would not have said that thing clearly about a white politician
2:38
Clearly. So self-evidently it is racist. Now, this was reported at the time
2:43
But then obviously we've got here is how reform were talking about internally at the time
2:49
Now, the director of comms, as has been heard in one of these clips, to his credit, actually says, you know, this guy's a racist
2:55
You know, we should be dealing with this and so on. But it's Mr Farage who was responding to it by basically saying he's got to apologise if David Lam has taken offence
3:04
And he says, just tell him he must do it now. Move on. Tell him from me
3:08
Show a bit of sorrow. Look, I'm sorry is probably a good thing to hear
3:11
Just take the effing deal. Trouble is, he's a rear admiral. That's the problem
3:16
And laughing. Now, what that would imply clearly, and I think what is striking about that exchange
3:22
is that what Farage is not doing there is sort of saying, right, this is clearly racist and wrong
3:26
and we're going to send a message. What he's doing is managing and thinking about
3:31
basically, what's the best way we can get this guy... Stick out a fake apology. We can get this guy out of problems
3:36
and out of the problem that we're in. And it's just worth noting, by the way
3:40
that after apologising to David Lammy, which he did, Dr Parry was allowed to remain as Reforms candidate
3:46
but he was later suspended, some months later, pending investigation over controversial comments
3:50
about a Jewish neighbourhood watch group. And again, I think what is potentially the problematic thing here
3:57
is not that there are problematic candidates in a party, because you do get that in other parties, that is absolutely true
4:04
The question is, is the culture internally in reform actually dealing with the problems and the prejudices which may exist
4:14
Another example, just to illustrate what I mean, which has been revealed by all of this
4:19
They discovered all the undercover reporter saw firsthand that it emerged that a reform council in North Northamptonshire was registered on a white supremacist dating website Now I heard about swiping right but that perhaps taking it to a whole new level
4:33
Swiping far right. A newspaper reported the site was exclusively for whites
4:38
and Europids seeking tribal love, promoting the survival of the white race
4:44
And the website in question had links to forums and material associated. You'll be amazed to hear, Sheila, with fascist and Nazi ideology
4:52
Surely not. But the recording seems to demonstrate that Reform's press officers
4:56
were unaware or unconcerned. A senior press officer said, you get Muslim dating websites
5:01
Christian dating websites, black dating websites, Jamaican dating websites. It's not great, but it's not a resignation issue, is it
5:07
What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And it seems to completely not even occur to this person
5:11
that there is a whole world of difference between a dating website
5:15
which is dedicated for a group of people who perhaps, for example, share an ethnicity or whatever, or a religion
5:21
And a dating website which is dedicated to the promotion of an ideology
5:26
which is fascistic and deeply racist. And that maybe having a candidate
5:32
who is interested in that sort of thing might not be not just a good look for the party
5:37
but it would be a good signal to demonstrate we don't want him to be a candidate. It shouldn't take a great deal of vetting, should it
5:42
Yeah, I think it might have taken something a bit better than the shrugs emoji, which seems to have basically been
5:47
more or less what the response was at the time. Do you get the feeling that with the drip feed
5:52
of some of the audio that we've alluded to already from that documentary on Sunday
5:56
that they're going to save their best till airtime? Well, perhaps so
6:01
And look, you know, if you speak to reform people, what they'll say, and there's some truth in this
6:06
is that they'll say, look, we have actually spent a lot of money trying to vet our candidates
6:12
They'll say that they spend more money than, for example, the Conservative and Labour Party
6:16
parties do, they'll say that and I think again there's truth to this
6:20
that they are still a newish party they don't have deep roots
6:24
across the country. You know the Labour and Tory party is a bit easier. When you've got CLPs and
6:28
Conservative associations, all the sort of local bigwigs in these parties, they kind of know the people
6:32
locally. They know that oh he's a bit weird, he's a bit eccentric she a bit of an oddball we don want them standing They can kind of sift First political meeting I ever went to age 17 St George Hall Liverpool because Liverpool was on fire politically in a bad way at the time
6:45
And I found myself sitting next to a woman in a gabardine trench coat straight out of World War Two, a balaclava, telling me she was a white witch
6:52
Right. And did this inspire you for a career in politics or clearly not
6:56
It put me on party politics for the rest of my life. And anybody who has had any exposure to party politics, particularly at the local level, knows that, you know, it does attract some of the more eccentric members of the local community
7:07
Room for everyone. And there's quite so. And, you know, it is hard
7:11
They are a party which has grown very quickly and they've got to try and, you know, field, you know, hundreds, thousands of candidates
7:17
You're going to get some difficulties and problems. I think that's all fair enough, by the way
7:21
I would actually completely agree with them. I think the deeper question that maybe they're not asking themselves is this, though
7:26
what is it about all of these sorts of people who exhibit a certain type of view
7:31
we're not just talking about a load a sort of spectrum of bad qualities people who've got
7:36
fraudsters or drug addiction we're talking about here people who seem to share a certain
7:43
predilection for certain types of extreme far right views what is it that attracts them to reform
7:49
and might it be that sometimes we have heard from the leadership of the reform party
7:55
certain signals and cues which might attract them. So, for example, whether it's Suella Braverman
8:02
talking about an invasion of Britain, a far-right trope, whether it's Robert Jenrick saying that he's gone to Handsworth
8:08
I think he did this when he was a Conservative at the time, in fairness, but that he's gone to Handsworth in Birmingham
8:12
and not seen a single white face, whether it's Sarah Pochin watching television
8:17
and saying that there are too many black people in advertising, whether it's Zia Yusuf talking about a Labour Somalian candidate
8:23
at the time, now a Member of Parliament, basically saying, we all know what's going
8:27
on here, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. These are cues that extreme people in the country will hear and think
8:34
well, maybe I want a bit of that. So I think it's totally fair enough for them to say they've had growing problems and pains, but they've also got to ask
8:39
themselves questions about the sort of signals that they've been emitting. Well, I look forward to speaking to you about it next week, once
8:45
we've seen the actual documentary in full as well. It's been a bit late, isn't it? 10.20. A bit late on a Sunday
8:52
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