It hurts and makes me angry,” said Indian-British leader Rishi Sunak, 44.
London:
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday reacted to a racist slur aimed at him, saying it left him “hurt and angry.”
Speaking to reporters during the general election campaign, Sunak said his two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, had to see and hear UK reform activists who campaigned for party leader Nigel Farage “calling me Paki”.
“It hurts and it makes me angry,” the 44-year-old Indian-British leader said, adding that Farage has questions to answer.
Sunak noted: “I do not repeat these words lightly. I do this deliberately because this is too important not to clearly explain what it is.
“When you see Reform candidates and activists seemingly using racist and misogynistic language and views seemingly unchallenged, I think that says something about the culture within the Reform Party.” He was speaking after a far-right Reform UK activist was filmed using the slur deemed racist against people of South Asian heritage, forcing party leader and general election candidate Nigel Farage to condemn the actions as “appalling”.
Reform UK is fielding hundreds of candidates in the July 4 elections with an anti-immigration stance, hoping to pose a strong challenge to the incumbent Conservative Party, which is heavily behind in the polls. However, with the election called earlier than expected, the party was unable to fully vet all of its activists and one of them – Andrew Parker – was filmed by an undercover Channel 4 reporter.
“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges have no bearing on my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or those of Reform UK,” Farage said in a statement.
The same activist was also heard suggesting that armed army recruits should be deployed to “just shoot” illegal migrants landing on UK beaches. Speaking at a campaign event on Thursday, Farage said that “one or two people have let us down and we have let them go”, but added that “in most cases they are just talking like ordinary people”.
The 60-year-old controversial politician is making his eighth attempt to be elected to Parliament after seven failed bids. This time, polls suggest a comfortable lead for him in the race to represent the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea.
Although Reform is likely to win just a few seats at most in the 650-seat House of Commons, Farage says his aim is to gain a foothold and lead the “true” opposition to a Labor Party government – which is widely expected . to succeed the Sunak-led Conservatives after the general election. The Indian-British leader, however, warned voters that a vote in favor of UK Reform was effectively a vote in favor of a Labor Party that raised taxes. He also hit back at Farage’s controversial statements claiming the West provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin into attacking Ukraine.
“What he said was wrong, it was completely wrong. That plays into Putin’s hands,” Sunak told The Telegraph.
“This is the guy [Putin] who used nerve agents on British streets, he is making deals with North Korea. That’s what we’re talking about here. This type of appeasement is very harmful not only to our security, but also to the security of our allies who depend on us and emboldens Putin even more,” he said.
Senior Conservatives are worried that disaffected party supporters switching to Reform UK could cost them seats and give Labor a “supermajority” in the election.
Sunak tried to reach this group of disaffected voters in the final week before the election with an appeal that “a Labor government is not just something you buy and if you decide you don’t like it you can take it back to the shop and return it”. .
“This will have profound consequences for you and your family, potentially for decades, if they change the system to stay in power for so long. Therefore, you should think very carefully about your choice in this election because it has consequences,” he said.
It comes as his party continues to battle the betting scandal engulfing the Conservatives, with his chief of staff reportedly helping with the Gambling Commission’s ongoing investigations into possible cheating behind some candidates betting on the election date in July, based on internal knowledge.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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