Nigel Farage has done more to tackle racism and the far-right than ‘almost anybody’, Robert Jenrick claims

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Nigel Farage has done more to tackle racism and the far-right than “almost anybody”, Robert Jenrick has claimed as Reform UK battles fresh allegations of sexism and racism.

The extraordinary claim came as Reform’s Treasury spokesperson sought to defend the party after a new undercover sting operation found councillors and candidates within Reform UK had used racist language .

The footage also showed Mr Farage appearing to let off a mayoral candidate accused of racism .

Asked about the ITV documentary, Mr Jenrick told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "I didn't like what I heard in the documentary or what I've seen in it. The party has acted immediately.

“We have and will never have any place for racism or comments of that kind in Reform, and so we acted to suspend or remove all of the individuals in question, including the councillor Feeney from Solihull that you just referenced, and we couldn't do more than that.”

He added: "I don't accept that this happens any more in Reform than any other party.

“What you do have, which is different in Reform, is media organisations lying, faking documents, spending millions of pounds a year in this case to film undercover thousands of interactions with councillors and members and young, in many cases members of staff at the Reform headquarters, ultimately, I presume, with the aim of trying to find Nigel Farage saying or acting in an inappropriate way.

“And once again, this undercover documentary did not succeed in doing that. He is the most heavily scrutinised figure in British politics, and he's someone who's probably done more than almost anybody else to stand against racism and the far right, and to protect our politics from that over the course of my lifetime."

Mr Jenrick’s claims came after secretly filmed footage showed Mr Farage telling his director of communications, Ed Sumner, that the party’s mayor candidate for Hampshire and the Solent, Chris Parry, must apologise to David Lammy for a social media post in which he said the then-deputy prime minister should “go home to the Caribbean”.

The footage cuts to Mr Sumner saying to Mr Farage “you’re protecting him”, before the party leader says: “It’s showing a bit of... bit of sorrow. Look, ‘I’m sorry’ is probably a good thing to hear. Just take the f***ing deal.”

In Mr Parry’s social post in January over speculation that the government could be considering talks about reparations for slavery, he wrote: “Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies.”

At the time, Labour described the remarks as “racist and grossly offensive”. Mr Parry later apologised “for any distress or offence” caused.

Mr Farage has repeatedly been accused of making inflammatory remarks that could stir up racial tensions in the past.