Nigel Farage admits to being 'shocked' by state of UK reform, throws Tice under the bus

Nigel Farage has admitted he was “shocked” by the state of the Reform Party when he took over last month.

In an interview with GB News’ Christopher Hope, he appeared to throw former party leader Richard Tice under the bus, saying the party was a “disaster”.

Farage told GB News he “didn’t really know what he was inheriting a month ago”.

The move comes after two reformist candidates defected. Georgie David, who left the party yesterday, said the “vast majority” of her fellow candidates were “racist, misogynistic and intolerant”.

Nigel Farage has admitted his “shock” at the state of the Reform Party when he took over as leader last month.

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Two days earlier, Liam Booth-Isherwood, candidate for Erewash, had also left the Reform Party to join the Conservatives.

Speaking to GB News, Farage added: “I was honorary chairman, I had nothing to do with the running of this for three years – you’ll never believe me, but it’s the truth.

“I was a bit shocked at how relatively amateur and young it all was. That’s not a criticism, Richard Tice kept the project alive – he put in a million pounds of his own money, loans yes, but to keep it alive. And yes, it was a bit of a mess.

“So do we have a few bad apples? Yes. Does that reflect the whole party? No. And on this ridiculous charge of racism, you can see that Zia Yusuf is our biggest donor so far in the campaign. We have a lot of candidates from all walks of life.”

He added: “If I had known a month ago what I was inheriting… I would have done it anyway.”

Asked whether he would have become leader or not if he had known the full situation, the leader of the British Reform Party appeared to hesitate.

He then replied: “It really annoys me, but I can see what happened. They literally put out a Charlie Charlie call. ‘If anyone wants to stand up, please come and stand up.'”

A Channel 4 investigation saw an undercover journalist film Reform UK activists. Footage showed activist Andrew Parker using a racial slur against Rishi Sunak.

Parker also suggested that migrants arriving in the UK in small boats should be used as “target practice”.

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Essex Police today confirmed that no criminal offences had been committed by the activists.

But Farage said: “Essex Police can say that, but Ofcom has to do its job.”

The leader of the British Reform Party claimed he was framed because Parker is an actor.

But Parker insisted he was there as a reformist activist and Channel 4 said he was “not known” to the broadcaster before he was “secretly filmed via the sting operation”.