‘Take the f***ing deal’: Farage secretly filmed letting off Reform candidate accused of racist slur against David Lammy

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Reform UK is facing a fresh crisis after a new undercover sting shows Nigel Farage appearing to let off a mayoral candidate accused of racism .

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 the social post i n January regarding speculation that the government could be considering talks about reparations for slavery, Mr Parry had 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.

The footage, part of a documentary by ITV Exposure to be screened on Sunday night, captured the conversation between Mr Farage and Mr Sumner following a press conference where the party leader said Mr Parry should apologise.

The footage showed Mr Farage saying Mr Parry “must apologise to Lammy”, before Mr Sumner tells him they had written him a text that he’s “not too happy with”.

Mr Farage said: “No, I'm sure, but he must do it and move on…Tell him that from me.”

When the Reform UK leader left, Mr Sumner said: “He's lucky, if it was up to me, I'd have kicked him out f***ing months ago.”

Mr Parry was l ater suspended after he appeared to liken a Jewish neighbourhood watch group to “Islamists on horseback” following an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances.

Mr Sumner told ITV News: “Nothing in the excerpts [of filming] discloses any wrongdoing, criminal activity or breaches of Reform UK policy by me… I do not endorse extremism or bigotry, or any concealment of extremism and bigotry”.

Labour has condemned the footage as “shocking and deeply disturbing”, and told Mr Farage he needs to “urgently explain why he allegedly stood by [Mr Parry]..... instead of kicking him out of his party”.

“These latest shocking and deeply disturbing revelations go right to the top of Reform UK, Nigel Farage needs to wake up and realise the buck stops with him,” Labour party chair Bridget Phillipson said.