Reform reports ITV and its reporters to the police
‘Striking how fast Reform went from free-press defenders to calling for the arrest of journalists who investigate it.’
Reform UK has said that it has reported ITV, its board and undercover reporters to the police over the broadcaster’s exposé of racism and sexism within the party.
In a six minute long video shared on his X account yesterday, Reform’s Zia Yusuf set out a series of allegations against ITV over their undercover reporting, which showed multiple Reform councillors making racist and sexist remarks.
Yusuf said “I will lay out how we believe ITV journalists have committed multiple criminal offences, some carrying up to ten years in prison.”
Reform’s home affairs spokesperson also claimed that ITV had “psychologically damaged innocent and decent Reform staff and members who were not featured in any documentary”.
Yusuf said that Reform will be taking legal action against the channel.
Speaking about the practice of undercover reporting, Yusuf said: “Journalists are supposed to report the news, these ones set out to create it.”
Yusuf alleged that the undercover reporter had committed a crime by “digitally manipulating” her passport in order to pass pre-employment checks and obtain a job in Reform’s press team “under false pretenses”.
The Reform figure said: “Making or possessing a false identity document with the intention of using it to establish who you are is a criminal offence under section four of the Identity Documents Act 2010.”
“It carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison,” he added.
Yusuf also claimed that the investigation “was designed to demoralise, to inject paranoia into our volunteers, our activists, and our employees, and to make ordinary people afraid to take part in politics”.
It is not clear which police force, or forces, Reform has made the report to.
Reacting to the revelation that Reform claims to have reported ITV to the police, Jim Pickard, deputy political editor at Financial Times wrote on Bluesky: “Fascinating that Reform’s priority seems to be going to war with ITV over its documentary rather than cracking down on the root problem.”
One social media user wrote: “There’s no place for racism in Reform apparently, which is why their first course of action following the undercover documentary is to….report ITV to the police.”
Times columnist Fraser Nelson commented on X: “Striking how fast Reform went from free-press defenders to calling for the arrest of journalists who investigate it.
“Its move to the populist-authoritarian model is unlikely to do much for its poll rating.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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