Britain's hard-right Reform UK party is facing a fresh scandal after ITV released extracts from a year-long undercover investigation showing party councillors and candidates using racist, violent and sexist language. The 90-minute documentary, "Undercover: A Year in Reform," airs on ITV1 on Sunday, October 18 — and its excerpts have already triggered suspensions, resignations and fierce cross-party attacks.
What the undercover cameras captured
ITV and Hardcash Productions followed Reform candidates and councillors through the May local elections and four by-election campaigns in 2025–2026. According to Reuters and ITV's own reporting, the footage — released in extracts on October 14 — shows party figures referring to Black children as "animals," describing Asian families as "infested" and "parasites," calling for migrants to be "taken out," and discussing training young men in insurgency tactics to round up migrants. In other excerpts, a candidate discussed burying pork chops to block a mosque being built, another repeatedly used a slur for Pakistanis, and one called for King Charles to be beheaded. Eight Reform figures were filmed; three have been publicly identified — Solihull deputy mayor Alan Feeney, Bromley councillor Dean Miller and Tameside councillor Raymond Dunning — and all named councillors have either resigned or been suspended, with several now sitting as Independents.
Reform's response: investigations and "no room for racism"
A Reform spokesperson said investigations have commenced, that "in some cases, there have been suspensions and due process must be followed," and that "there is no room for racism in Reform UK." The party says it has improved its vetting procedures but that "a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting." Reform has also accused ITV of "extreme methods of deception" and said not everyone filmed is a party member. The affair puts pressure on Nigel Farage's 2024 pledge to professionalize the party and tighten vetting, after he had dismissed earlier offenders as "bad apples."
The political fallout — and the timing
Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson called the comments "extreme racism" and "truly sickening," saying Farage "can't shrug these latest revelations off as being a few bad apples" and demanding every implicated Reform figure "be thrown out of Reform UK immediately." Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called the report "chilling," while a Conservative spokesman said: "Nigel Farage promised to make Reform ready for government. These sorry individuals are proof he has failed."
The timing is awkward for Reform. A YouGov voting-intention poll this week put the party third — Labour 24%, Conservatives 23%, Reform UK 21% — the first time since the 2024 general election that Reform has trailed both rivals in a YouGov survey. The party is also under parallel scrutiny: a September Channel 4 News undercover probe led to Reform being reported to police over alleged party-funding breaches, and Farage faces a standards investigation over a $5.9 million personal gift from Thai-based British businessman Christopher Harborne.
The takeaway: the documentary's full broadcast on Sunday will determine whether this becomes a defining scandal or another episode Reform weathers. Either way, the party's claim to be a government-in-waiting now has to survive a year of its own people on tape.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources
- Reuters: Undercover documentary shows Reform UK candidates making racist, sexual, violent comments
- Time Bulletin: Reform UK hit by fresh scandal as racist views caught on camera
- UK Fact Check: Reform investigates councillors filmed making racist remarks in ITV undercover probe
- Parliament News: Reform slips to third in new YouGov poll