Nigel Farage has sought to distance himself from “bad apples” in Reform UK amid continuing allegations of prejudice in its ranks and the resignation of a candidate who cited concerns about the behaviour and conduct of others in the party. The Reform UK leader was forced to continue defending his own past remarks about individuals ranging from Vladimir Putin to Andrew Tate as the general election campaign entered its final week. He told Sky News’s political editor, Beth Rigby, on Sunday that Tate, the misogynist influencer, was a “huge, huge voice for men” and filled a gap for many young men he said were “feeling they aren’t allowed to be blokes in any way at all”. Farage said he was “horrified” by the charges against Tate in Romania, which include human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. Tate denies the charges. Reform still appears to be in a strong polling position, which would indicate that the rightwing populist party could exacerbate a defeat looming over the Conservatives. Farage earlier angrily denied he was “fanning the flames of prejudice” to further his political ambitions, as he doubled down on claims Reform UK had been “set up” by an exposé of racism and prejudice among activists. However, there was a fresh blow for the party when a candidate said he was leaving and would be backing the Conservatives after becoming “increasingly disillusioned with the behaviour and conduct of Reform” over the past few weeks. Liam Booth-Isherwood, who had been the candidate for the Erewash constituency in Derbyshire, said: “The reports of widespread racism and sexism in Reform have made clear that there is a significant moral issue within certain elements of the party, and the failure of the party’s leadership to not only take this matter seriously, but also to fundamentally address it, has made clear to me that this is no longer a party I want to be associated with.” Earlier, Farage addressed Reform UK’s biggest campaign rally of the election, where he told thousands of supporters at Birmingham’s NEC that recent days “had been tough”. The event came a day after another in the Clacton constituency where Farage is running in the general election was overshadowed when the political activist group Led by Donkeys managed to get a banner with Vladimir Putin’s face on it lowered behind the Reform leader as he addressed an audience. “Who put that up there?” asked Farage amid laughter from others at the banner, which featured the Russian leader giving a thumbs-up above the message: “I ♡ Nigel.” Farage has been criticised over comments that the west provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and his description of Putin as “a strong leader who believes in his own nation”. Earlier on Sunday, Farage was also confronted about a report in the Sunday Times that there was a threat to the general election from hostile actors such as Russia seeking to influence the democratic process. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said it had uncovered a suspected operation encouraging support for Reform UK, after monitoring five coordinated Facebook pages. The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said: “There is a threat in all elections, and indeed we see it in this election, from hostile state actors seeking to influence the outcome of the election campaign.” Farage described the claims as “cobblers”. Reform continues to face pressure over its general election candidates. It confirmed on Saturday that it had dropped support for three candidates about whom Farage had been confronted on BBC One’s Question Time. The party told the Guardian, however, that it would not be dropping three other candidates who have been the focus of criticism over remarks attributed to them on social media. Antony Antoniou, in Northampton North, shared a link on 3 June 2016 to a video titled “world defeated the wrong enemy”; Jacqui Harris, in Kenilworth and Southam, shared, liked, and retweeted a number of posts comparing the modern state of Israel to Nazi Germany. Another the party is standing by is Charles Bunker, the Reform UK candidate in Hitchin, who has described himself as “a proud Islamophobe”. Earlier on Sunday, Farage had bristled when the Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips said he did not believe he was racist but was doing “something much worse” by “fanning the flames of prejudice to further his political goals”. “That is totally and utterly untrue … you damn well know that, having known me for 25 years,” said Farage, who is boycotting the BBC after accusing the broadcaster of bias over his reception on Friday night’s Question Time. Farage also said people who had been attracted by the British National party would gravitate in the direction of his party because they no longer had a home to go to. “Ironically, destroying the BNP means people who are minded that way don’t any longer have a home to go to, and so some will gravitate in our direction, and [when] we find out who they are, they’ll be gone.”