Rishi Sunak has spoken of his hurt and anger at his daughters having to hear Reform activists using a racial slur about him.
The prime minister was responding after supporters of Nigel Farage’s party were recorded making racist comments, including about the Tory leader who is of Indian descent.
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Mr Sunak: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing ‘P***’.
“It hurts and it makes me angry and I think he has some questions to answer.
“And 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.”
Speaking on a campaign visit to a school in Teesside, he added: “And as prime minister, but more importantly as a father of two young girls, it’s my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour.”
Mr Sunak said he repeated the racial insult because it was important to challenge it.
He went on: “I hate having to do it, I chose my words deliberately, I hate having to repeat them, absolutely hate it.
“But I also think it’s important to call this out for what it is and be clear about what it is.”
The footage, caught by an undercover Channel 4 reporter, showed one Reform campaigner suggesting migrants should be used as “target practice”.
Another canvasser described the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggested members of the LGBT community were paedophiles.
Mr Farage has sought to distance himself from the inflammatory remarks, saying he was “dismayed” by the “appalling sentiments” expressed.
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