Reform UK would campaign as the “leading voice of opposition” and press for the abolition of the BBC licence fee, Nigel Farage has said, claiming the broadcaster has “abused its position of power”.
Speaking at a party rally in Birmingham on Sunday, the Reform UK leader said: “We will again renew our campaign with added vigour to say that the state broadcaster has abused its position of power and we will campaign for the abolition of the BBC licence fee.”
It came after the Reform UK leader was questioned about the state of his party, and the views expressed by some of its candidates and campaigners, by a live audience during an appearance on BBC Question Time on Friday.
The BBC has rejected accusations by Farage that the audience was deliberately selected to be hostile towards him.
“Friday night’s Question Time audience was made up of broadly similar levels of representation from Reform UK and the Green Party, with the other parties represented too,” a BBC spokesperson said. “There were also a number of people, with a range of political views, who were still making up their mind.”
Reform’s election campaign has been rocked by footage obtained by Channel 4 of Reform canvasser Andrew Parker using a racial slur against Rishi Sunak. Farage has claimed the comments had been used as a “smear campaign” against the party.
Parker has apologised for the remarks, which he claimed to Sky News he was “goaded” into making. Channel 4 stood by their reporting. The Prime Minister spoke of his “anger” and “hurt” at hearing the comments, which Essex Police say they are “urgently assessing” for any criminal offences.
Speaking at the Reform rally today, Farage said the Conservatives would “be in opposition but they won’t be the opposition because they disagree with each other on virtually everything”.
He added: “The last four years all we’ve had are internal Tory wars. They stand for nothing. I was told they were a broad church. Well they’re a broad church without any religion.”
Asked whether he would allow Conservative MPs to join Reform UK, Farage said: “Let’s see what happens.”
Entrepreneur Zia Yusuf, who has donated to Reform UK, told the rally Farage was a “real leader” and claimed young people were “being betrayed, being robbed of a fair opportunity”.
The rally came as Farage insisted “the bad apples are gone” from his party after Reform’s withdrawal of support for three candidates over offensive comments.
It also came as Reform UK’s candidate in Erewash, Liam Booth-Isherwood, disowned the party and said he backed Conservative candidate Maggie Throup.
The BBC has been contacted for comment.