RISHI Sunak has said racial slurs by a Reform campaigner “hurts and makes me angry” – warning Nigel Farage has “questions to answer”.
The PM was livid his two daughters had to see the activist call him an “effing p***” and claimed it speaks to the “culture” of the right-wing party.
Mr Farage branded the remarks “reprehensible” when undercover recordings by Channel 4 emerged last night – but today decried a “complete and total setup”.
His volunteer Andrew Parker was caught making the comments on the election trail in Clacton as well as saying soldiers should shoot small boat migrants.
Mr Sunak – the country’s first British-Asian PM – spoke of his disgust at the racism during a visit to a school in Teesside today.
The Tory leader 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. 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.”
Mr Sunak has spoken during the campaign at his pride of leading the UK after his grandparents came from India with very little.
He added: “When you see Reform candidates and campaigners seemingly using racist and misogynistic language and opinion, seemingly without challenge, I think it tells you something about the culture in the Reform party.”
Questions over the Channel 4 sting surfaced today when Parker – a part-time actor – claimed he was “goaded” into making the comments.
He said “of course he” he regretted the remarks but brushed it off as “typical chaps-down-the-pub talk.”
Parker had told an undercover reporter to use the word “illegal” on the doorstep “especially if you open the door and there’s a bunch of P***.”
And referencing the Prime Minister, he went on: “I’ve always been a Tory voter… but what annoys me is that f*** P*** we’ve got in.
He also declared that Army recruits should carry out “target practice” by shooting asylum seekers arriving in Dover.
Mr Farage – who distanced his party from Parker’s comments last night – today claimed “it was an act from the very start”.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women, the Brexit firebrand said: “I have to tell you, this whole thing was a complete and total set-up, I have no doubt about that.”
Asked whether he thought Mr Parker had been paid, he said: “I don’t know whether he was paid or not.”
He added: “I’m saying it’s possible, I don’t know. Something is wrong here.”
Channel 4 has said it stands by its “rigorous and duly impartial journalism which speaks for itself”.
