Reform UK Racism Scandal: ITV Undercover Sting Catches Councillors in Racist Rants — Farage Under Fire

Photo: Owain.davies, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons (file photo — Nigel Farage addressing a Reform UK rally in Devon, June 2024)

Some stories unfold over days. This one detonated in a single evening. On Wednesday night, ITV News released clips from a year-long undercover investigation into Nigel Farage's Reform UK — and within hours, councillors were resigning, suspensions were flying, and the Prime Minister was demanding action. The footage shows elected Reform councillors and candidates across England and Wales using racist, Islamophobic and sexist language while out campaigning.

What ITV's "Undercover: A Year in Reform" caught on camera

The footage is grim. ITV Exposure and Hardcash Productions ran reporters undercover alongside Reform candidates during the May local elections and four by-election campaigns in 2025 and 2026. Alan Feeney, a Reform councillor in Solihull, was filmed describing Asian homeowners as "parasites" and talking about deporting them. A Reform member was filmed saying his area had become "infested" with Asian families. In another excerpt, Black children were referred to as "animals".

Dean Miller, a Reform councillor in Bromley, was recorded making remarks about King Charles, later telling ITV he had been heavily medicated. In Tameside, councillor Raymond Dunning was filmed discussing deporting legal migrants and training men to target people with a racial slur, according to the Green Party's account of the ITV footage.

Three of those filmed have resigned from the party, Reform UK confirmed, while others have been suspended.

Reform UK's response: investigations, suspensions — and a swipe at ITV

Reform UK moved fast on Wednesday night. In a statement, the party said that "where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced" and that "in some cases, there have been suspensions and due process must be followed."

The party said it had improved vetting but "a handful of individuals" who don't share its values still slip through, and insisted there is "no room for racism in Reform UK."

It also pushed back hard on ITV itself, accusing the broadcaster of "extreme methods of deception" and claiming that "not all individuals covertly recorded by ITV are members of Reform UK."

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Westminster piles in: Burnham and Badenoch both demand action

The reaction from Westminster was swift and, unusually, cross-party. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, asked about the ITV investigation during a visit to the North West on Thursday, said Reform must take "immediate and firm action" against those filmed.

"We've allowed a poison into our politics in recent years," Burnham said, according to PA Media, praising Kemi Badenoch for drawing "a line at her party conference between her party and that type of politics."

Labour chair Bridget Phillipson called the comments "extreme racism" and said Farage can't dismiss them as "a few bad apples." The Muslim Council of Britain demanded the leadership take "full responsibility for the culture of hatred that they have allowed to fester."

What this means for Farage

Here's the problem for Nigel Farage: this cuts directly against the promise he made in September 2024 to professionalise the party and tighten candidate vetting. That pledge was supposed to turn Reform from a protest movement into a credible government-in-waiting. Instead, ITV spent a year inside his campaigns and came out with a 90-minute documentary.

It comes at an awkward moment. A YouGov survey reported this week has Reform down in third place, behind Labour in first and the Conservatives in second. The party is also under scrutiny after a Channel 4 News investigation prompted a police referral over alleged donation-rule breaches, which forced out Farage's long-term aide Dan Jukes and head of policy James Orr last month.

Farage blamed "the establishment" for the probe, telling reporters in Chelmsford that "you can't vet people for what they say in the future." Voters will decide whether that excuse holds.

What happens next

The full programme, "Undercover: A Year in Reform", airs on ITV1, ITVX and YouTube at 10.15pm on Sunday 18 October. ITV has promised more revelations, and Reform has promised more answers. Nobody in Reform wanted this fight in the middle of the pre-Budget run-up. But they have it now — and "bad apples" won't cut it as a defence.