Jenrick likens Reform racism scandal to BBC paedophile cases as Farage is filmed 'protecting' racist candidate

Robert Jenrick sparked fresh outrage this morning by comparing Reform's racism and sexism crisis to the BBC's paedophile presenter scandals, telling Radio 4 the party could not be expected to achieve a "fool-safe" vetting process. The comparison came as secretly filmed footage showed Nigel Farage telling his director of communications Ed Sumner to keep mayoral candidate Chris Parry — accused of telling David Lammy to "go home to the Caribbean" — in the fold, prompting Sumner to tell colleagues Farage was "protecting him". A second wave of undercover revelations also reportedly caught Reform's own MP Sarah Pochin calling the party "so f***ing chauvinistic" and saying it "just excludes you if you're a woman."

Jenrick denied the chauvinism charge, telling BBC Radio 4: 'That's not my experience of Reform.'

A Reform vetting officer was reportedly filmed boasting the philosophy was to check if applicants were 'a f***ing lunatic' — and revealed he had recently turned down a convicted rapist.