Nigel Farage is facing mounting pressure to drop a Reform UK mayoral candidate who claimed Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy should “go home” to the Caribbean.
Hampshire and the Solent mayoral candidate Chris Parry faced backlash after making the comments on X.
Mr Parry wrote that Mr Lammy, who is London-born to Guyanese parents, must “ go home to the Caribbean where (his) loyalty lies.”
This came after news that the Justice Secretary was to open slavery reparations talks with former Caribbean colonies.
Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where loyalty lies. https://t.co/mQn93deydX
— Chris Parry (@DrChrisParry) February 8, 2025
Tensions escalated when Mr Parry doubled down on the comments in the replies, where he said, “Well, home is where the heart is. That’s the point”.
The Labour Party condemned the post as “racist and grossly offensive” and pushed for Mr Farage to drop Mr Parry.
This is not the first example of such comments from the Reform candidate. In a previous post, he suggested that Tory politician Enoch Powell, who is known for his “Rivers of Blood” speech which ignited racial tensions in the 1960s, was “unfulfilled”.
Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley has claimed that Mr Parry should be dropped from Reform.
She said: “How big does the mountain of racist and grossly offensive comments Chris Parry has made have to get before Nigel Farage throws him out of Reform? It’s disgraceful.
“Farage’s refusal to take action against racism in his party shows what a dark place he’s dragging politics to. He should finally drop Chris Parry as a candidate, kick him out of his party, and apologise for failing to take action sooner.”
Reform UK leaders did not comment on the posts when asked about them over recent weeks.
