Channel 4 have been accused of election interference after it emerged that the supposed Reform volunteer who made racist remarks was really an actor who had done work for Channel 4 in the past.
On Thursday night Channel 4 News aired what they claimed was secret filming of a Reform Party canvasser making racist and offensive remarks.
The 'exposé' was picked up by the rest of the media along with the BBC who ran with it as lead story on the Six O'Clock News. That lead in nicely to today's Question Time debate where audience members repeatedly grilled Nigel Farage about why Reform 'attracted racists' as its members, with Farage having to defend the party, again, successfully derailing his airtime.
However, it has now emerged that the whole thing was fake, with the supposed 'racist reform volunteer' really an actor who had done work for Channel 4 before.
Researchers, using facial recognition software, identified Reform Volunteer Andrew John Parker as actor Andrew John Parker whose show reels can be seen on TikTok. On Parker's talent agency website page his lists himself as specialising in 'rough voices' and who is often offered the “villain and mafia type”.
It has also emerged that Parker only turned up at the Reform party office in Clacton last week and was completely unknown to anyone else. Nigel Farage, who was there on the day Parker turned up remarked that he thought the man was acting from the moment he first saw him.
"My name is Andrew Parker. I'm an extremely experienced actor. I've been in plenty of films. I've worked with quite a lot of A listed actors. I've done a lot in Pinewood studios - a lot in Warner Brothers" This is from his profile on MANDY, "the #1 platform for cast, crew, and creative professionals" via https://mandy.com/u/andrew-parker-1/
Channel 4 have refuted claims that they faked the documentary, saying they had no knowledge of Mr Parker before last week. This was also debunked as the documentary was made through a 'third party' production company, giving the channel deniability, whilst Parker himself announces in one of his show reels that he HAS worked for Channel 4 previously.