September 29 – Sir Jim Ratcliffe did not give permission for his immigration-related comments to appear in a UK Reform promotional video, his company has said.
Party leader Nigel Farage released the video on Saturday 26 September. It opens with Ratcliffe’s February claim to Sky News that “the UK has been colonized by immigrants”.
INEOS, the petrochemical group that controls Manchester United’s 73-year-old minority owner, told The Athletic that Ratcliffe knew nothing about the video and never approved it. INEOS did not say whether it had asked to be withdrawn.
The position of the reform is simple. The clip came from a public broadcast, so no permission was required. The party says it has had no complaints from Ratcliffe or INEOS and has no plans to change or remove the video.
The February statements drew strong criticism at the time. They were then condemned by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and investigated by the English Football Association.
Manchester United manager Michael Carrick said the club was proud of its equality and diversity, and a club statement described the club as inclusive and welcoming. Ratcliffe said he regretted that his language had offended some people.
It didn’t end there. In a BBC interview on 19 September, Ratcliffe again criticized immigration levels and said the UK was “downhill”.
Manchester United’s Muslim supporters club responded by saying the co-owner “must go”, adding that he hoped a lesson would have been learned after February and he clearly hadn’t.
