Nigel Farage has announced he is boycotting the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of bias over his reception on Friday night's Question Time. The Reform UK leader took part in a leaders' special episode, a half-hour Q&A session with a live audience, during which he was heavily criticised. One audience member called him a racist, while another asked why his party attracted extremists.
On the programme, Farage disowned three candidates after being presented with their reportedly offensive remarks, saying he wanted 'nothing to do with them'. A Reform spokesperson later confirmed they had been dropped. But on Saturday, Farage wrote on X that he had refused an invitation to appear on Laura Kuenssberg's show until the BBC apologised for what he called a 'dishonest Question Time audience'. He added that the state broadcaster had 'behaved like a political actor throughout this election' and that Reform would campaign vigorously to abolish the licence fee.
A BBC spokesperson refuted the claims, stating that the Question Time audience was made up of broadly similar levels of representation from Reform UK and the Green party, with other parties also represented, and that there were several undecided voters with a range of political views.
The row comes as Essex police investigate racist and homophobic comments made by Reform campaigners in footage revealed by a Channel 4 undercover investigation. The footage showed an activist, Andrew Parker, using a racial slur against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as Islamophobic remarks. Farage suggested Parker may have been a paid actor, and Reform has complained to the Electoral Commission and Essex police, claiming Channel 4 interfered in the election. Channel 4 denied the allegation, saying Parker was met for the first time at Reform headquarters, where he was a canvasser.
Rishi Sunak reacted with outrage to the slur, saying his daughters had to hear such language and that Farage had questions to answer. Keir Starmer supported the prime minister, censuring Farage for failing to show leadership over racism allegations and saying he shared Sunak's 'disgust'. Parker denied being paid by Channel 4, but told the PA news agency: 'It'll all come out in the papers, what'll come out is the truth.'
