Reform Councillor Quits After Being Caught Making Racist Comments on Camera

A local politician in England has resigned after a secret video showed him making racist comments about Asian people. Alan Feeney was a councillor — a type of elected local official — on both Solihull Council and Birmingham City Council. An undercover journalist filmed him as part of an ITV news investigation. When the footage was made public, Feeney stepped down and apologised for what he said.

The video was part of a documentary by ITV Exposure, a programme that investigates wrongdoing. Journalists secretly filmed Reform UK election candidates and councillors across England and Wales during local elections and by-elections in 2025 and 2026. In the footage, Feeney called Asian homeowners 'parasites' and made other deeply offensive remarks. He also said he believed no more than one per cent of the UK's population should be non-white.

After the first part of the investigation aired on Wednesday, Feeney at first said he was leaving Reform UK for personal reasons. He said he would stay on as an independent councillor, keeping his seats but not belonging to any party. However, he later changed his mind and resigned from every post he held. His employer, the prison service, also suspended him and called his comments 'despicable,' meaning truly awful and shameful.

In a post on Facebook, Feeney said he was sorry for what he had done. 'My remarks were wrong, offensive and completely unacceptable,' he wrote. He admitted that his words did not meet the standard people expect from someone in public office. He said he took full responsibility and chose to resign because holding power means being held accountable for your actions.

Another Reform councillor, Chris Whelan, was also caught on camera making an offensive comment about a female colleague. Whelan also resigned, saying it was for personal and health reasons. Solihull Borough Council said there is 'no place for this disgusting racist, discriminatory and misogynistic language in public life.' The council said it would be investigating the complaints made against Feeney.

Reform UK said it had improved the way it checks people before letting them join the party. A spokesperson said that sometimes people who do not share the party's values slip through those checks, but that this can happen in any organisation. The party also said the investigation happened at a time when its leader, Nigel Farage, and others were facing security threats. Back in September 2024, Farage had promised to keep extremists and bigots out of Reform UK.