Chris Parry would not confirm that the former foreign secretary's “primary loyalty” is to the UK
A Reform candidate who said that David Lammy should “go home” to the Caribbean where his “loyalties lie”, has refused to apologise for his remarks.
Chris Parry, a retired Navy admiral and Reform’s candidate for mayor of Hampshire and the Solent, doubled down on his comments in a TalkTV interview, saying that people should “look at the context” they were made in.
He made the comment on X in February, after Lammy said he was “open” to having slavery reparations talks with former British colonies.
Parry claimed that a journalist at a major newspaper has “a bit of an obsession about this”, adding “you really shouldn’t believe everything you read in the newspapers”.
In response, TalkTV’s Peter Cardwell asked him: “Did you write it, did you write that?”.
The Reform candidate responded: “I’m not going to talk about it, people should go to Twitter and see what was written and the context in which it happened.”
He added: “All I’m saying is that if you’re the foreign secretary of this country, your primary loyalty must be to this country.”
Lammy was the foreign secretary between July 2024 to September 2025, and is now the justice secretary.
Cardwell asked: “Do you believe his primary loyalty is to this country? Because he was born in this country, his parents weren’t of course.”
Parry refused to say whether Lammy’s primary loyalty is to the UK, and instead answered: “Ask him.”
Reform is facing calls from Labour, including MP Calvin Bailey to sack him as their candidate due to his “vile” comments.
Labour chair Anna Turley said: “No matter what Reform’s senior leadership say, telling a black British man from London to ‘go home to the Caribbean’ is racist, and no ‘context’ can excuse it.”
Parry has also used the sexist term ‘harpy’ to refer to several female Cabinet ministers including the chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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