Alan Feeney resigned all Solihull Council and Birmingham City Council roles, and Reform told the BBC on Thursday, 15 October, that he had mutually agreed to leave the party.
The Ministry of Justice suspended Feeney from his prison service job, which his July register of interests listed as custodial manager.
A former candidate in the footage says he failed vetting twice yet still stood, a claim Reform denies, while Farage said on Thursday, 15 October, that 'you can't vet for future comments'.
Footage released on Thursday, 15 October, shows Farage discussing Chris Parry, who had said former deputy prime minister David Lammy should go home to the Caribbean.
Adam Parkins and David Kerr remain listed as Reform councillors in Hounslow, and Reform has not said which councillors it suspended.
Alan Feeney has stepped down from all of his council roles in Solihull and Birmingham after ITV News undercover footage captured him describing Asian homeowners as 'parasites' and an area as 'infested'. The filming, gathered over a year, was made before the May council elections. Reform told the BBC on Thursday, 15 October, that Feeney had mutually agreed to leave the party.
The Ministry of Justice called the comments despicable and suspended him from his job with the prison service, where his register of interests listed him in July as a custodial manager. The recordings also capture him saying no more than 1% of the British population should be non-white. On Friday, 16 October, Feeney apologised on Facebook, calling his remarks wrong, offensive and completely unacceptable. He said they did not reflect his true beliefs about communities he had supported over many years.
The ITV broadcast began with footage shown on the night of Wednesday, 14 October, featuring councillors and candidates using racist, violent and sexist language. Further footage released on Thursday, 15 October, featured Nigel Farage. Reform's statement on Feeney came on Thursday, 15 October, and his apology on Friday, 16 October.
Reform faces questions over candidate vetting. One undercover reporter was advised by a local branch chairman in Chester to delete social media posts supporting Tommy Robinson before being encouraged to stand as a councillor. A former candidate in the footage claims he failed vetting twice yet was still allowed to stand, a claim Reform denies. The party says it has improved its procedures and that a handful of people who do not share its values will sometimes pass vetting, which it says affects all organisations. Farage told BBC Look East on Thursday, 15 October, that the party vets to a higher standard than others but 'you can't vet for future comments'.
The footage released on Thursday shows Farage discussing Chris Parry, a retired rear admiral picked to contest the Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election. Parry had written in January that former deputy prime minister David Lammy should 'go home to the Caribbean', and the party stood by him for months. In the recording, the party's director of communications, Ed Sumner, tells Farage that he is protecting Parry, and Farage says an apology is probably a good thing to hear.
Robert Jenrick told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, 16 October, that he did not like what he heard and that the party had acted immediately to suspend or remove those featured.
“We have and will never have any place for racism or comments of that kind in Reform”
He said all parties have 'bad apples', denied the problem is worse at Reform, and argued that Farage has 'probably done more than almost anybody else' to stand against racism. An official Reform booklet distributed at the party's annual conference in Birmingham in September advises councillors to consider how decisions affect different groups, despite its pledge to scrap the Equality Act 2010. Suella Braverman announced in February that the act would be repealed on day one of a Reform government. Bridget Phillipson, Labour's minister for women and equalities, said:
“Reform chase headlines by pledging to rip up hard-won equality rights, yet they are issuing contradictory guidance to their own councillors.”
Two Hounslow councillors, Adam Parkins and David Kerr, were recorded discussing doing things 'people feel uncomfortable with' without announcing them. Reform says it suspended some councillors without naming them, and both remained listed as Reform councillors when the Local Democracy Reporting Service sought comment. Shantanu Rajawat, Labour Leader of Hounslow Council, said:
“It is right that Reform has suspended the councillors who made those comments.”
The Hounslow Green Party leader, Guy Lambert, has called for the pair to be removed from the council.
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Alan Feeney has stepped down from his council roles after ITV undercover footage captured him calling Asian homeowners 'parasites'. The Ministry of Justice has suspended him from his prison service job.
AI text based on reports by BBC, The Independent, inews.co.uk and other publishers. Changed .