An aspiring Reform UK MP was filmed by an undercover journalist calling for asylum seekers arriving by boat to be rounded up and sent to concentration camps, in the latest batch of recordings to emerge from ITV's year-long investigation into the party, broadcast on Friday 17 October.
Jason Powell, a party activist who travelled to Clacton to canvass for Nigel Farage and said he had passed the party's vetting checks to become a Reform parliamentarian, made the remarks at a victory rally after the August Clacton by-election, according to ITV News. The Guardian, which reported the disclosures on 17 October, described the footage as part of the same covert investigation that has already forced suspensions within the party.
What the undercover footage shows
ITV's reporter recorded Powell saying that anyone crossing the Channel in the first week of an election campaign should be detained in camps built for the purpose.
According to ITV News, Powell said: 'Anyone who comes across on a boat, as an example, in the first week of [the] election, build concentration camps, and everyone who comes across on the channel, you're in there.'
He went further: 'They just need to be rounded up, every single last one of them, and sent to those concentration camps and then be given an ultimatum. Where are you from? Because you're going back there. If you don't tell us, you're staying here for the rest of your life.'
Powell also told the reporter that a person 'cannot be a Muslim and British', comparing the two identities to 'oil and water', and singled out the party's own Home Affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, who is a Muslim. Powell insisted to ITV that his views are not extremist and that he believes they reflect the general opinion of the British people.
Councillors filmed discussing executions
The same investigation caught two Hounslow councillors, Adam Parkins and David Kerr, discussing what the party might do in power. Parkins said that if he were prime minister he would 'quite happily do Sunday morning Rose Garden executions' of rape gang offenders, offering to carry them out himself with a pistol. Kerr, who stood as a Reform candidate in 2024, agreed that grooming gang perpetrators should be 'machine gunned down' because 'offending rates will plummet'.
Kerr did not respond to ITV's request for comment. Parkins later told the broadcaster that Reform's policy, and his own view, is that grooming gangs should face the toughest possible sentences under British law.
The grooming gang scandals remain one of the rawest wounds in British public life, and public anger on that question is legitimate and deep. But there is a serious difference between demanding the full rigour of the law and boasting, in front of a stranger with a camera, about summary executions. The latter hands the party's opponents exactly the caricature they have long sought to paint of anyone who wants immigration controlled and criminals punished properly.
Farage's promise to clean up the party tested again
These disclosures land on a party already reeling. Earlier batches from the same ITV investigation, reported by Metro, included covert video of Dean Miller, a Bromley councillor who has since resigned, describing Black children as 'animals'. Sarah Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, was filmed telling the undercover journalist that the party is 'chauvinistic', as the BBC has also reported.
Nigel Farage has declared that 'there is no room for racism in Reform'. The question now facing him is whether that sentence can survive contact with a growing body of evidence suggesting that, in some quarters of his movement, there is plenty of room indeed.
The rally where Powell spoke, dubbed Farage Fest, drew hundreds of supporters and was itself scrutinised for lacking an event licence. Reform insisted the gathering was lawful and said it had applied for a licence as a precaution.
Vetting under scrutiny
The investigation also raised questions about the party's candidate procedures. Karl Lewis, a serving Welsh councillor previously criticised for liking and sharing extremist material, was given media training by the party, including a mock interview conducted by board member Darren Grimes. Asked about his past support for Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate, Lewis replied that the party does not tolerate extremism and that its vetting process is 'totally robust'.
Lewis was applauded for that answer. He then told ITV's undercover reporter he had been lying, saying he was 'ahead of his time' in endorsing posts such as one entitled 'Sweden Raped to Death by Muslim Migrants'. Asked what was now common knowledge, he answered: 'Migrants coming over, yeah.'
ITV's footage suggested that, far from being the sort of candidate Farage pledged to weed out, Lewis was being coached internally to handle press scrutiny. That is the most damaging detail of all. A party can be let down by a rogue councillor. It is harder to explain why the party machine was training one.
Reform UK responds
In a statement responding to the latest reporting, Reform UK said that 'not all individuals covertly recorded by ITV are members of [the party]'.
'Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced. In some cases, there have been suspensions, and due process must be followed,' the statement continued.
'Reform UK has improved and prioritised its vetting procedures, but from time to time, a handful of individuals who do not share our values will initially make it through vetting. This is the same for all organisations. However good the vetting, one cannot vet a future comment. There is no room for racism in Reform UK. We always respect due process of investigations, and whilst these are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.'
The party has a fair point that no organisation can guarantee the future conduct of every member, and mass movements that grow quickly will attract their share of cranks. But the concentration camps remark came from a man who says he passed the party's vetting to stand for Parliament. When a candidate talks about camps and deportation ultimatums in the same breath as British politics, the damage is not confined to Reform. It poisons the well for every serious person who wants the Channel boats stopped, immigration reduced, and British sovereignty restored through lawful, democratic means.
The fuller picture airs in 'Undercover: A Year Inside Reform', on Sunday 18 October at 10.20pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
FAQ
Who was filmed calling for concentration camps?
Jason Powell, a Reform activist and aspiring MP who said he had passed the party's vetting checks, was recorded by an undercover ITV News reporter at a rally in Clacton after the August by-election.
What has Reform UK said about the footage?
The party said investigations have commenced where individuals clearly behaved inappropriately, that some suspensions have occurred, and that there is no room for racism in Reform UK.
When is the ITV documentary broadcast?
'Undercover: A Year Inside Reform' airs on Sunday 18 October at 10.20pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.