Nigel Farage has been condemned after falsely accusing migrants of eating swans in parks and touting debunked conspiracy theories from over a decade ago.
The Reform UK leader, whose party recently came third in the Plaistow South by-election, claimed “swans are being eaten in royal parks” by people “who come from different cultures” and “countries where that’s quite acceptable.”
When asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari whether eastern Europeans and Romanians were responsible, Mr Farage said: “So I believe.”
Though the Royal Parks and RSPCA confirmed that they have received no such reports, false claims quickly spiralled online with many identifying Newham as a hot spot.
One X user wrote: “In 2000 Eastern Europeans cleared out a lake in Newham, even had a barbeque and ate all the large carp caught and ate ducks and swans plus ate virtually all types of freshwater fish from our canals in Stratford. Was common knowledge.”
Another claimed to have heard reports for “as long as 25 years”.
They posted: “A friend of mine was environmental health officer in Newham, a few times he caught Romanians killing geese and swans at the lake in Plashet Park in East ham to take them home and eat them.”
A spokesperson for Newham Council said there have been no reports of missing swans or carp in Newham.
Dozens of other posts included images of a front page article from The Sun with the banner headline ‘Swan Bake: Asylum-seekers steal the Queen’s birds for barbecues’, to back up their claims.
The article, from the paper's 4 July 2003 edition, asserted that police had caught a gang of Eastern Europeans barbecuing a duck in a park in Beckton, Newham, with two dead swans “also found concealed in bags ready to be roasted”.
The article said the “discovery confirmed fears that immigrants are regularly scoffing the queen’s birds.”
At the time, media ethics charity Presswise submitted a complaint to the Press Complaints Committee (PCC) about the article - one of three complaints received by the commission.
Nick Medic of Presswise's refugees, asylum-seekers and the media project had launched his own investigation into the Sun's claims, contacting police stations in east London.
The freelance journalist, born in Serbia, said no one from stations at West Ham, North Woolwich, Forest Gate or Beckton could confirm that anyone had been arrested, charged or even cautioned over such an offence.
In a report published by the media diversity institute, Mr Medic wrote: “I understand that different cultures have different dietary preferences; yet, here was a statement which was not only untrue, but also implied a degree of barbarism and savagery.”
Eastern Europe covers a vast tract of land from the Ural Mountains to the Mediterranean, with an estimated population of around 200million people.
Mr Medic said: “Of course, I cannot say that in a landmass stretching some 4,000 miles, someone somewhere had not eaten a swan. But I have never been informed that swan is ‘an acceptable delicacy’ in our part of the world.”
He said he reported the story to the commission in an attempt to stop an “urban myth” from snowballing into “one of those distorted and dangerous slanders” that have “circulated for generations against Gypsies or Jews”.
Five months later, The Sun published a small clarification on page 41 of its Saturday paper.
The newspaper admitted nobody had been arrested over any such offence, but maintained that numerous members of the public had accused eastern European refugees of killing the birds to eat.
Newham Independent councillor Mehmood Mirza, told the Citizen: “Claims about migrants eating swans in Newham were disproven over 20 years ago, yet they are recycled to demonise communities and stoke division.
“Newham is a place of diversity. We won’t allow falsehoods to undermine the cohesion we’ve built together.”
He described the Reform leader's comments as a “dangerous attempt” to revive “old racist tropes that have no basis in fact”.
Cllr Mirza’s party swept to victory in the Plaistow South by-election earlier this month in a dramatic upset for Labour.
But the Independents were not the only party to make gains in the Labour stronghold, with Reform UK's Lazar Monu placed a strong third with 16.0 per cent of the vote, ahead of Green candidate Nic Motte’s 7.4 per cent.
Reform UK were approached for comment.
