British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his hurt and anger over a racial slur directed at him by a supporter of Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party.
Sunak felt compelled to address the issue publicly due to its significance.
Sunak, Britain’s first ethnic-minority prime minister, responded to a Channel 4 News broadcast featuring a man named Andrew Parker, who used a racial slur against him.
Parker referred to Sunak as a “fucking Paki,” a derogatory term for people of South Asian descent.
Born in Southampton in 1980 to Hindu parents of Punjabi Indian descent, Sunak highlighted the personal impact of such remarks.
“My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing Paki.
“It hurts and it makes me angry, and I think he has some questions to answer,” Sunak stated.
“I don’t repeat those words lightly, I do so deliberately because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is.”
In response, Parker issued a statement to Channel 4 News after learning the video would be broadcast.
He claimed that no one at Reform was aware of his personal views on immigration and apologized for any negative reflection on Farage and the party.
“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention,” Parker said.
He mentioned his involvement with Reform stemmed from a belief in their solutions to the UK’s illegal immigration problem.
In the Channel 4 video, Parker expressed frustration with Sunak, saying, “I’ve always been a Tory (Conservative) voter but what annoys me is that fucking Paki we’ve got in.
What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. Fucking useless.”
Farage responded to the initial broadcast with dismay over Parker’s language. He later tweeted, “We now learn that he is an actor by profession.
This whole episode does not add up.” Reuters could not reach Parker for further comment.
Channel 4 News clarified that they covertly filmed Parker and did not know him before encountering him as a Reform volunteer.