Reform needs to ‘build concentration camps’, aspiring MP admits to undercover journalist

Following various revelations of racism and bigotry within Reform UK, additional undercover reporting has exposed one aspiring MP’s comments calling for Britain to build concentration camps.

While party leader Nigel Farage declared, ‘There is no room for racism in Reform,’ evidence has suggested the contrary, undermining his promise to clean up its image post-election.

So far, ITV has exposed numerous instances of Reform candidates using highly offensive language, captured for the 90-minute film Undercover: A Year in Reform.

Evidence has included a covert video showing Dean Miller, a Bromley councillor who has since resigned, describing Black children as ‘animals’, while Sarah Pochin, who represents Runcorn and Helsby, told an undercover journalist the party is ‘chauvinistic’.

A slew of examples in the latest batch of evidence come from the event dubbed Farage Fest, a victory rally held after the August Clacton by-election.

The gathering of hundreds also came under scrutiny for not having an event licence. Reform maintained the event was lawful, arguing it applied for a licence as a precaution, despite insisting it was not needed.

‘They just need to be rounded up… and sent to concentration camps’

An undercover ITV News reporter attended, as did party activist and aspiring Reform MP Jason Powell, who went to Clacton to canvass for Farage. He said he had passed vetting checks to become a Reform parliamentarian.

ITV News reports that Powell said: ‘Anyone who comes across on a boat, as an example, in the first week of [the] election, build concentration camps, and everyone who comes across on the channel, you’re in there.

‘And that’s the first, the very first day… They just need to be rounded up, every single last one of them, and sent to those concentration camps and then be given an ultimatum.

‘Where are you from? Because you’re going back there. If you don’t tell us, you’re staying here for the rest of your life.’

‘You cannot be a Muslim and British’

Other remarks included Powell claiming you ‘cannot be a Muslim and British’.

‘I’m pretty hardline about Islam as well, really, because if a Muslim’s prepared to de-convert, I’m happy,’ he said.

‘But if they want to remain faithful to Islam, then this would be, I would have disagreements, especially with, um, I mean, as far as I understand, Zia Yusuf [Reform’s Home Affairs spokesman] is a Muslim… To me… you cannot be a Muslim and British… It’s like oil and water.’

Powell told ITV that his views are not extremist, but that he believes they reflect the general opinion of the British people.

‘I would happily do Sunday morning Rose Garden executions’

Further disclosures included Councillor Adam Parkins and Councillor David Kerr from Hounslow in West London discussing actions Reform may take if it gets into power.

‘We will just do what we need to do,’ Parkins said. ‘Let me put it this way: if I were f***ing prime minister, I would quite happily do Sunday morning Rose Garden executions of f***ing rape gangs.

‘Give me a f***ing pistol, and I’ll walk behind them and go “Boom, boom, boom.” I would do that without f***ing thinking for a second about it, and I’d go up and have my coffee.’

Kerr, who stood as a Reform MP in 2024, agreed that ‘grooming gang perpetrators’ should be ‘machine gunned down’ as ‘offending rates will plummet’.

Explaining his ideas on reversing immigration, Kerr said: ‘Certain things are best left done, best left until you’re in power, because there’s no way you’re going to be able to even discuss a tenable solution without being called a f***ing Nazi.’

While Kerr did not respond to ITV’s later request for comment, Councillor Parkins said the Reform policy is that grooming gangs should face the toughest possible sentences under British law, and that is his view.

Media-trained councillor: ‘I was ahead of my time’

The investigation also found that candidates for the Welsh parliament received media training. This included controversial serving councillor Karl Lewis, who previously came under fire for liking and sharing extremist material. 

In a mock interview, conducted by board member Darren Grimes, he was quizzed on his support for Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate and his sharing of ‘conspiracy theories by a discredited group’.

He replied that his views have ‘changed’ since 2016, saying: ‘We don’t tolerate extremism at all in the party. And anyone that is found to have extremist views are rejected straight away. We have a process to stop that from happening. I’ve gone through that process… it’s totally robust, trust me.’

Councillor Lewis was applauded for his reply but later told ITV’s reporter that he was lying, arguing that he was ‘ahead of his time’ by endorsing posts such as one entitled ‘Sweden Raped to Death by Muslim Migrants’.

‘Now it’s common knowledge what’s going on over there, but at the time it was “Ooh, pretty radical,” and of course they picked up on it.’

Asked to clarify ‘What’s common knowledge now?’, he answered, ‘Migrants coming over, yeah.’

ITV’s footage suggested that, while Councillor Lewis appears to be the kind of candidate Farage pledged to oust from Reform, the party trained him internally to handle the media.

Responding to the network’s latest reporting, Reform UK issued a statement, insisting that ‘not all individuals covertly recorded by ITV are members of [the party]’.

‘Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced. In some cases, there have been suspensions, and due process must be followed,’ they added.

‘Reform UK has improved and prioritised its vetting procedures, but from time to time, a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting. This is the same for all organisations. However good the vetting, one cannot vet a future comment.

‘There is no room for racism in Reform UK. We always respect due process of investigations, and whilst these are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.’

Undercover: A Year Inside Reform, Sunday, October 18, at 10.20pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV, and STV Player.

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