ITV’s exposé of racism and misogyny in Reform? Just a few (more) bad apples | John Crace

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Crace, J. (2026, October 19). ITV’s exposé of racism and misogyny in Reform? Just a few (more) bad apples | John Crace. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/19/itv-expose-racism-misogyny-reform

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-19 · by John Crace

Quick Summary

John Crace critiques ITV’s exposé on racism and misogyny within the Reform party, noting that no Reform MPs defended the party after the broadcast. Instead, he highlights Richard Tice's focus on British Airways losing his luggage rather than addressing the allegations. Matt Goodwin, a failed Reform candidate, attempted to defend the party but did so in an unorthodox manner, suggesting there were only a few problematic individuals within Reform and implying Nigel Farage was against racism. Crace’s article is an analysis of the lack of response from Reform MPs and the defensive strategies employed by those associated with the party.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-19, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Reform UK has faced significant backlash after secretly recorded footage revealed its councillors and candidates making racist, sexist, and discriminatory remarks. The ITV investigation, conducted over a year, documented instances where Reform officials advised potential candidates to delete far-right content from their social media before encouraging them to stand. Despite these findings, Reform maintains that there is "no room for racism" in the party and emphasizes ongoing investigations while denying systematic issues.

Alan Feeney, a prominent Reform councillor who made derogatory comments about Asian communities during a local election campaign, has resigned from his positions in Solihull and Birmingham following public outcry. Feeney apologized, stating that his remarks were "wrong, offensive, and completely unacceptable."

Prime Minister Kemi Badenoch urged Reform to take immediate action against those involved in the abhorrent comments, reinforcing the message that there is no place for racism or discrimination in British politics. Meanwhile, party leader Nigel Farage defended Reform by suggesting that the investigation was politically motivated.

Critics argue that while Reform acknowledges individual instances of misconduct, it fails to address systemic issues within the organization. The lack of public defense from Reform MPs following the exposé has further fueled skepticism about the party's commitment to addressing these concerns comprehensively.

Written for “Reform UK Racism Scandal” on 2026-10-19, grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly left (beta estimate) Confidence high 1 quote(s) discarded as not found in the article
Leaning: leans strongly left for article 91479 (high confidence, 4 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-19

Story

📰 Reform UK Racism Scandal
Politics · 12 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 16% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Reform faces criticism after councillors filmed making racist comments same event · 100%
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 23 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles discuss ITV's undercover filming that exposed racism and misogyny within Reform UK, specifically referencing the same broadcast date and content.”
Reform UK councillors and candidates filmed making racist and extreme comments same event · 95%
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 7% hedged 2 of 27 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles discuss an ITV investigation revealing racism and misogyny within Reform UK, with similar timing and context.”
Undercover documentary shows Reform UK candidates making racist, sexual and violent remarks same event · 95%
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles discuss an ITV documentary exposing racism and misogyny within Reform UK, involving footage of members making inappropriate remarks.”
Farage is hit by fresh questions over candidate vetting after politicians demanded King's execution and made sickening racist and sexist jokes same event · 95%
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 19 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles discuss an ITV investigation exposing racism and misogyny within Reform UK, referencing the same specific incident on Sunday night.”
Reform faces questions over candidate vetting after undercover filming same event · 95%
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 14% hedged 6 of 44 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles discuss ITV's undercover exposé of Reform UK, focusing on its vetting procedures and allegations of racism and misogyny.”
Robert Jenrick denies Sarah Pochin claim about ‘chauvinistic’ Reform UK different event · 90%
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 18 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss an ITV News investigation into Reform UK's alleged racism and misogyny, Article A focuses on Robert Jenrick's denial of claims made by Sarah Pochin, while Article B provides a broader commentary on the lack of response from Reform UK MPs following the exposé.”
Jenrick claims Farage has done more to stand against racism than ‘almost anybody’ different event · 90%
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 26 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A reports on a specific defense of Nigel Farage by Robert Jenrick, while Article B discusses the lack of response from Reform UK MPs to an ITV exposé.”
Reform councillors quit after being caught on camera making violent, racist and sexist remarks different event · 85%
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 29% hedged 4 of 14 📰 publisher trust 64
“While both articles discuss an exposé of racism and misogyny in Reform UK, Article A reports on specific councillors quitting after being caught on camera, while Article B comments on the lack of defense from Reform MPs regarding the broader issue exposed by ITV.”
Reform activist caught on camera saying Muslims can't be british and asylum seekers should be put in 'concentration camps' different event · 85%
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 20 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A describes a specific incident where an activist was caught on camera making controversial remarks, while Article B provides commentary and reaction to ITV's broader investigation into Reform UK's racism and misogyny.”
Undercover footage shows Reform activist claiming Muslims cannot be British different event · 70%
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 19 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A describes an undercover investigation revealing racist comments by a Reform activist, while Article B discusses the lack of response from Reform MPs following the broadcast of the ITV exposé.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
49
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
16%
8 of 49 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
12
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-19 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

John Crace
6 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 After Sunday night’s ITV exposé of widespread racism and misogyny within Reform, you might have expected one of its MPs to have taken to the airwaves on Monday morning to defend the party’s honour.
2026-10-19 · assertive framing · ITV’s exposé of racism and misogyny in Reform? Just a few (more) bad apples | John Crace
🔮 In hindsight it might have been more, shall we say, diplomatic if Donald Trump had taken a few deep breaths after finding out that he had been overlooked for the Nobel peace prize for the second year running before virtually declaring war on Norway.
2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Digested week: No Nobel again for Trump but he looks a cert to retain Fifa peace prize | John Crace
🔮 For when the history books come to be written, Nigel Farage will go down as one of the century’s unluckiest politicians.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · Just as Saint Nige thought it was safe to reappear, along comes pesky ITV | John Crace
🔮 In recent weeks there has been much speculation in some parts of the media that Andy Burnham would be calling an early general election.
2026-09-27 · assertive framing · Burnham refreshes the parts others can’t reach on the Andy and Laura show | John Crace
🔮 Where differences could be acknowledged without causing a major diplomatic incident.
2026-09-22 · assertive framing · Call it a win: boredom but no temper tantrums in Burnham’s first face-to-face with America’s King Baby
🔮 James Cleverly got the ball rolling by announcing he was planning to be the Conservative candidate for London mayor in two years’ time.
2026-09-04 · assertive framing · Digested week: Tom Tugendhat is a serious politician. What’s he doing in a Reform-lite Tory frontbench? | John Crace
Also by John Crace
Digested week: No Nobel again for Trump but he looks a cert to retain Fifa peace prize | John Crace
2026-10-16 · The Guardian
Just as Saint Nige thought it was safe to reappear, along comes pesky ITV | John Crace
2026-10-15 · The Guardian
Burnham refreshes the parts others can’t reach on the Andy and Laura show | John Crace
2026-09-27 · The Guardian
Call it a win: boredom but no temper tantrums in Burnham’s first face-to-face with America’s King Baby
2026-09-22 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 6 articles by John Crace →

Topics

BBC Denton Gorton ITV Reform

Subjects

Reform ORG · 10× ITV ORG · 4× Matt PERSON · 3× Nige GPE · 3× Wes PERSON · 3× Denton GPE · 2× Dicky PERSON · 2× Gorton GPE · 2× Nigel Farage PERSON · 1× Robert Jenrick PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Instead, Wes seemed more interested in persuading himself that there was absolutely nothing unusual in Donald Trump switching the Starlink satellite system on and off at random moments, thereby allowing Russian drones to do untold damage on Ukraine.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-19
🔮 After Sunday night’s ITV exposé of widespread racism and misogyny within Reform, you might have expected one of its MPs to have taken to the airwaves on Monday morning to defend the party’s honour.
2026-10-19 · The Guardian
ITV’s exposé of racism and misogyny in Reform? Just a few (more) bad apples | John Crace · assertive framing

Claims (49 extracted, 8 hedged)

It was the dog that didn’t bark in the night. asserted
that → bark → night
After Sunday night’s ITV exposé of widespread racism and misogyny within Reform, you might have expected one of its MPs to have taken to the airwaves on Monday morning to defend the party’s honour. uncertain
one → expect → honour
To try to persuade viewers that the real problem lay with the journalists who couldn’t stop themselves from investigating Reform rather than the fact that the party’s bigotry was endemic. asserted
bigotry → try → Reform
Instead, we got nothing. asserted
we → get → nothing
Every Reform MP was otherwise engaged. asserted
MP → engage → ?
Maybe he realised he had crashed and burned a few days earlier by suggesting it was just one of those things. asserted
it → realise → things
The BBC was riddled with paedophiles and Reform was awash with racists, said Honest Bob. asserted
Bob → riddle → racists
Every organisation had its crosses to bear. asserted
organisation → have → crosses
The only MP to take to X in the morning was Richard Tice, who was feeling decidedly grumpy having only just got married to Isabel Oakeshott. asserted
who → take → Oakeshott
Perhaps he had a hangover. asserted
he → have → hangover
Though his main gripe was that British Airways was yet another failing British institution because it had mislaid at least one of his bags. asserted
it → fail → bags
Dicky’s social media post had more than a touch of the “don’t you know who I am” to it. asserted
I → have → it
You can only imagine the baggage handler may have known exactly who Dicky was and had taken great pleasure in diverting one of the fake Louis Vuitton suitcases from Dubai to Manila. uncertain
Dicky → imagine → Manila
The one person out and about for Reform was the one person you would have thought the party would want to keep hidden. asserted
party → think → Reform
Step forward Matt Goodwin, the party’s failed candidate for the Gorton and Denton byelection whose own views could easily pass off as borderline racist in polite circles. uncertain
views → step → circles
Matt is going through his own personal anti-growth agenda. asserted
Matt → go → agenda
Almost every day, voters in Gorton and Denton thank their lucky stars for having dodged a bullet. asserted
voters → thank → bullet
So much so that you began to wonder whether he was even conscious. asserted
he → begin → ?
Luckily for him, he was only allowed out on Times Radio. asserted
he → allow → Radio
To try to understand Matt is to make a category error. asserted
try → try → error
The whole point is to not understand him. asserted
point → understand → him
That’s the way you stay sane. asserted
you → ’ → ?
Because what he wanted listeners to believe was that Nige was a buffer zone against racism. asserted
Nige → want → racism
That hordes of would-be racists begged to be allowed to join Reform, only to find out that Nige was a man of peace and love. asserted
Nige → beg → peace
The one politician who wanted nothing but good things for all immigrants. asserted
who → want → immigrants
It got better. asserted
It → get → ?
Because Batshit Matt also wanted us to believe that the ITV documentary had just uncovered a few bad apples in the party. asserted
documentary → want → party
The ITV journalists had managed to uncover the only seven racists in the Reform ranks. asserted
journalists → manage → ranks
That ITV had filmed about 10 Reform councillors and found that seven of them had views that included beheading King Charles for being a Muslim. asserted
that → film → Charles
Some statisticians might put that down as a 70% hit rate. uncertain
statisticians → put → rate
Over in the Commons, Wes Streeting was preparing for other threats during departmental defence questions. asserted
Streeting → prepare → questions
You’d have thought that Wes might have wanted to schmooze the chancellor before next week’s budget. uncertain
Wes → think → budget
To try to get the best funding settlement he could. uncertain
he → try → settlement
Wes began by slagging off his predecessor as defence secretary for wasting money on unnecessary training exercises and then announced he was confident that Healey would reach the necessary 3% and 3.5% targets at next year’s spending review. asserted
Healey → begin → review
So, no, Wes wouldn’t be resigning any time soon. asserted
Wes → resign → ?
Let’s hope his confidence is well placed. asserted
confidence → hope → ?
Instead, Wes seemed more interested in persuading himself that there was absolutely nothing unusual in Donald Trump switching the Starlink satellite system on and off at random moments, thereby allowing Russian drones to do untold damage on Ukraine. asserted
drones → seem → Ukraine
The only way you could tell the system was working properly was if you turned it off from time to time. uncertain
you → tell → time
Obvious when you think about. asserted
you → think → ?
Wes was also totally chilled about Trump trying to lower US pump prices by allowing Russian imports of diesel. asserted
Trump → try → diesel
…and 9 more, not listed.
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