Sarah Pochin was recorded by an undercover ITV reporter accusing Reform officials of being “so fucking chauvinistic” and of excluding women. She said the party’s handling of women did not match how it presents itself in public. The footage lands while ITV is already airing material about Reform’s treatment of other allegations inside the party.
Sarah Pochin footage
Pochin, the Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby, was recorded reacting to the arrival of a new female press officer with the words: “Oh thank fuck for that. God! We so need women press officers … They are so fucking chauvinistic.” She also said: “I go out on all the shows and go: ‘Oh no, it’s lovely, oh they’re all so welcoming.’ Shit … they” and complained that officials “just exclude you if you are a woman.”
She was described as one of two female MPs for Reform, and at the time she was met by the undercover reporter she was the party’s only female member of parliament. That makes her remarks a direct internal complaint from inside the party structure, not a comment from outside it.
ITV investigation
The footage comes from ITV’s undercover investigation into Reform, which has already drawn criticism over racist and misogynistic comments exposed elsewhere in the same project. On Wednesday, segments from the investigation showed councillors making graphic threats of extreme violence and expressing racist and misogynistic views. The full documentary, Undercover: A Year in Reform, is set to air on Sunday.
One strand of that wider investigation also focused on Chris Parry, a Reform mayoral candidate. Last year, he said David Lammy should “go home to the Caribbean” and suggested that at least eight other politicians from minority ethnic backgrounds do not have a primary loyalty towards the UK.
Reform and Chris Parry
When the controversy broke last December, Ed Sumner said: “He needs to go, I’m getting rid of him.” Nigel Farage later said the candidate could stay if he apologised, adding: “He must do it and move on … Tell him that from me.” Sumner replied: “You’re protecting him.” Reform suspended Parry on 26 March after further reporting on comments he had made.
Bridget Phillipson said the latest revelations “go right to the top of Reform.” For Pochin, the immediate question is whether Reform takes any action over a recorded complaint that places one of its female MPs at odds with the party’s own public message. Readers will see more of that internal split when the Sunday documentary airs.
