Reform UK has complained over Doncaster broadcaster James O’Brien, slamming him for “disgusting” comments about party leader Nigel Farage.
Party chairman Lee Anderson described the comments as “unacceptable” – and has called for a public apology from O’Brien.
Anderson has hit out at comments made by the LBC host including claims that he described him as a “horrible excretion bobbing around in the toilet bowl of public life.”
He is also said to have described Farage as “the unflushable poo, he is the irremovable skidmark on the Y-fronts of British politics, and there is nothing we can do to get rid of him.”
In his letter to Ofcom, Mr Anderson wrote: “Nigel Farage is no stranger to criticism from commentators.
“However, to dehumanise him in this way, referring to him as “excrement” and a “skidmark”, and to then idly muse that there is “nothing we can do to get rid of him” is beyond the pale.
“At the time of broadcasting, Mr O’Brien was well aware of the recent alleged murder of Ann Widdecombe, a Reform UK spokesperson much loved among her colleagues in the party.
“This clear, personal, dislike of the man make for very distressing listening indeed.
“Reform UK has repeatedly called for public figures and politicians to moderate their language, and for the Government to recognise the importance of providing full and robust security measures for all Members of Parliament. It is unacceptable, then, for O’Brien to be dehumanising a politician and speculating that “there is nothing we can do to get rid of him.”
“As such, we are calling for a public apology from O’Brien, and reassurances from LBC management that he will be warned about his obligations under the Broadcasting Code, including regarding hate speech. Failing this, we will have no choice but to lodge an official complaint with Ofcom.”
Born in 1972 to a teenage single mother, he was adopted at the age of 28 days by Jim O’Brien, a journalist on the Doncaster Evening Post
