Nigel Farage faces racism accusations from activist

He said his daughters “had to see and hear the reformist people who campaigned for Nigel Farage” using racist language against him.

He said Mr Farage had “some questions to answer”.

In addition to the abuse directed at the Prime Minister, Mr Parker was also heard describing Islam as the “most disgusting sect” and suggesting that army recruits should carry out “target training” by shooting at small boats carrying illegal immigrants to the UK.

In a statement, Parker said he wanted to “profoundly apologize to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views reflected poorly on them and damaged their reputation as that was not my intention.”

Essex Police said it was “urgently assessing” the comments on the programme “to ascertain whether there are any criminal offences”.

Farage said he had done more to expel the far right than any living person in British politics.

“I ran for the British National Party over a decade ago. I said to their voters: if this is a protest vote but you don’t support their racist agenda, don’t vote for them, vote for me, and I will destroy them.”

He went on to repeat claims he made earlier in the day that Mr Parker was an actor with an alter ego, and suggested it was a “political setup of staggering proportions”.

“This is designed to hurt us, and unfortunately some people believe it.”

The BBC contacted Mr Parker about Farage’s comments, but he did not wish to comment.

Channel 4 News said it was committed to “accurate and impartial journalism”, adding that it had first met Mr Parker at the UK Reform Party headquarters and had not paid him any money.

Mr Farage was then asked about other comments made by the UK Reform candidates.

Edward Oakenfull, who stands in the Derbyshire Dales, wrote offensive posts on social media about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans. Ockenful told the BBC that his comments were “taken out of context”.

Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, reportedly said black people should “get off”. [their] “Lazy donkeys” and stop acting “like savages.” The comments were published by The Times on June 8, with Reform claiming at the time that they were “partial quotes out of context” and that it needed more time to respond.

Lesley Lilly, who was standing in Southend East and Rochford, reportedly described people arriving in small boats as “scum”, adding: “I hope your family gets robbed, beaten up or attacked.”

Mr Farage said he disavowed the candidates, adding: “I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”

“You find people in all parties saying bad things and wrong things,” he said, noting that this was partly a result of the need to find candidates quickly after the prime minister’s surprise call for a general election in July.

Mr Lilley is no longer named as the UK Reform candidate in the constituency on the party’s website, but Mr Oakenfull and Mr Lomas are.

The BBC has contacted the Reform Party to confirm whether the party has formally withdrawn its support for the three candidates.

But it’s too late to prevent them from appearing on the ballot.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay was also asked about comments made by some of his candidates in relation to the conflict in Gaza, including one who compared Hamas to French Resistance fighters in World War II.

Mr Ramsay said he did not support those views, adding that any concerns would be “properly investigated through the correct channels in the party” – saying those channels were separate from the leadership.

“Unfortunately, all parties have candidates who were selected in this election but are no longer able to move forward,” he said.