Reform UK was plunged into a fresh crisis on Wednesday after ITV broadcast the first footage from a year-long undercover investigation showing party councillors and election candidates making racist, violent and misogynistic remarks. Three councillors have already stood down from the party, and leader Nigel Farage postponed a major announcement that had been due to take place in Essex on Thursday morning as the party tries to contain the fallout.
The investigation, “Undercover: A Year in Reform,” placed reporters with Reform candidates and councillors across England and Wales in the run-up to the May elections and during four by-election campaigns. It involved eight figures in Reform; the party says everyone filmed is under investigation and has either resigned or been suspended. ITV says further revelations will come in the coming days, including undercover filming of senior Reform politicians and officials working at the party's UK headquarters.
Alan Feeney, a Reform councillor and deputy mayor of Solihull, was recorded telling undercover reporters that the area had been “infested” with Asian families, calling them “absolute parasites” and saying “no more than 1% of British population can be non-white.” Feeney, who defected from the Conservatives in 2025, said he had left Reform “for personal reasons” and is continuing as an independent councillor.
The footage also showed Feeney with two other candidates who later became councillors, Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan, discussing speculation that a mosque might be built locally. “There's got to be a way of stopping them, like, go and buy some pork chops; we'll bury it in the ground,” Campbell said. Whelan replied “we'll take pictures of it,” and Feeney added: “I was gonna say, 'Unfortunately, this is a pig cemetery, mate.'” In a separate exchange, the men made crude sexual remarks about a female Reform candidate. Whelan resigned from the party on 12 October and is now an independent councillor.
In footage obtained by ITV, Dean Miller, a Reform councillor in Bromley, was recorded allegedly claiming King Charles is a Muslim, suggesting the monarch had betrayed the country, making comments about beheading him and describing black children as “animals.” He was also said to have claimed London had been “ethnically cleansed.” Miller told ITV he had been heavily medicated at the time because of a chronic pain condition. He has since resigned and is listed as an independent on Bromley Council's website.
Reform UK said there is “no room for racism” in the party. A spokesman said investigations had commenced and some suspensions had been imposed, while acknowledging that “a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting.” The party says it carries out checks on everyone who wants to stand for election, and Farage has repeatedly pledged over the past two years to rid Reform of “extremists” and “bigots.”
Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson described the allegations as “truly sickening,” saying Farage needed to explain “why this keeps happening in his party.” Labour added that he could not “shrug these latest revelations off as being a few bad apples.” Reform deputy leader Richard Tice questioned the investigation, suggesting one individual filmed was a “Tory plant” seeking to make the party “look bad.”