No 10 calls
on Farage to urgently address ‘disturbing allegations’ of past racist behaviour
Keir Starmer
ramps up pressure on Reform leader, who has dismissed claims as ‘one person’s
word against another’
Daniel
Boffey, Pippa Crerar, Henry Dyer and Peter Walker
Wed 19 Nov
2025 19.19 GMT
Keir Starmer
has called on Nigel Farage to urgently address multiple and detailed
allegations of racist behaviour during his teenage years, as the Reform leader
attempted to dismiss the claims as “one person’s word against another”.
Pressure was
put on Farage by the prime minister over what Downing Street said were
“disturbing allegations” after the Guardian reported the testimony of more than
a dozen school contemporaries, including an award-winning director who claimed
to have been targeted with antisemitic abuse.
In the face
of concerns raised by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and an extremism adviser to
the last Conservative government, Farage’s spokesperson on Wednesday appeared
to question whether it would be possible to remember events from the 1970s and
early 1980s.
“If things
like this happened a very, very long time ago, you can’t necessarily recollect
what happened,” the spokesperson claimed.
Speaking in
the Commons after a question from the Reform MP Lee Anderson at prime
minister’s questions, Starmer said Farage needed to personally explain himself
in the light of the Guardian’s reporting.
“Mr Speaker,
he [Anderson] talks about dog whistle. Last week his leader said he didn’t have
time to condemn the racist comments of his fellow MP for Runcorn,” the prime
minister said, referencing Sarah Pochin’s complaint last month about TV adverts
being “full of black people, full of Asian people”.
“He also
said he didn’t have time to condemn his party calling children in care evil. He
didn’t have time. I wonder if we could ask his leader next door to him whether
he’s got time for his explanation for the stories in today’s papers.”
The prime
minister’s spokesperson added: “These are disturbing allegations and it’s vital
that Nigel Farage urgently explains himself. You’ve heard the prime minister
speak just this week about Farage’s weakness in the face of divisive politics
in Reform’s ranks.
“He’s still
not condemned the language or taken action against one of his MP’s racist
comments, refused to condemn them when asked last week. Reform is dragging our
politics into a dark place. This Labour government stands for our patriotic
British values of decency, tolerance and importantly, unity. So, it’s for Nigel
Farage to explain.”
A
spokesperson for Farage reiterated the Reform leader’s denial of him ever being
racist and antisemitic at school. He questioned why some of those who had given
testimony had not made the claims before.
“Our
statement was very clear that these allegations date back 45 years. And I think
that at any point in time, when Nigel was leader of Ukip, when he stood in the
2010 general election, the 2015 general election, during Brexit, maybe in the
2019 general election, you would have to ask yourself, why didn’t this come up
before?”
Asked if
Farage therefore believed those who made the allegations were inventing them,
the spokesperson said: “I’m saying there is no primary evidence. It’s one
person’s word against another.”
Jean-Pierre
Lihou with a collection of Dulwich college memorabilia; he sits at a table in a
smart, modern kitchen. He has short fair hair and wears a black polo shirt,
with glasses balanced on his head.
‘He used to
say things like “Hitler was right”’: Farage faces more allegations of racist
behaviour at school
John
Woodcock, an adviser on political extremism to the last Conservative government
as a cross-bench peer, said testimonies reported by the Guardian appeared
credible and the Reform leader’s response would be concerning to many.
Contemporaries
accused Farage of targeting minority ethnic children for abuse during his time
at Dulwich college, singing a “Gas ’em all” song that referred to the killing
of Jewish, black and south-east Asian people, and burning a school roll in a
year when there were said to be more Patels than Smiths.
When faced
with claims from Channel 4 in 2013 about his conduct at school, Farage admitted
saying “some ridiculous things … not necessarily racist things … it depends on
how you define it”.
In response
to the fresh allegations, a spokesperson for Reform, which is leading in the
opinion polls, told the Guardian they were “entirely without foundation”.
Woodcock,
ennobled as Lord Walney in 2020, suggested a prospective prime minister should
not seek to brush off such claims. He said: “These detailed testimonies from Mr
Farage’s contemporaries appear credible and describe a degree of extremism that
cannot be summarily dismissed as irrelevant simply because it was alleged to
have occurred when he was a teenager. Many people will readily accept that
young people can espouse offensive or extreme views that should not define
their character as an adult.
“They will
be more concerned by the fact that Mr Farage is apparently now completely
denying he ever said anything racist or antisemitic as a child, despite several
public statements to the contrary from people who say they were on the
receiving end of it from him.
“This
suggests a man not at ease with his past – a troubling characteristic for
someone who is seeking to govern the country.”
Among those
who have accused of Farage of racist behaviour at Dulwich college was the
Bafta- and Emmy-winning director Peter Ettedgui, 61, who claimed Farage would
sidle up to him him and growl “Hitler was right” or “Gas them”.
In a new
testimony, Jean-Pierre Lihou, a former friend of Farage’s at school, who said
he once stayed over at his house, said he also recalled the abuse of Ettedgui.
“He used to
say things like, you know, ‘Jude’, to Peter, which is the German for Jew, in
the way it was said in the 1930s, a long ‘u’ in a menacing way, you know?”,
Lihou said. “It’s pretty awful and he’s a bloody nice guy … Peter would become
quiet, I think he originally said ‘sod off’ because he’s a fairly robust guy.
But he eventually basically went into himself and tried to ignore it. It would
subdue him.”
Not all of
the school contemporaries who spoke to the Guardian recalled racist behaviour
or felt that Farage was bigoted. But a number of those who did experience such
behaviour said they had been motivated to speak out by Farage’s failure to show
contrition about his past.
Georgina
Laming, the director of campaigns at Hope Not Hate, said: “These revelations
are sadly no surprise. Nigel Farage has consistently expressed anti-immigrant
and intolerant views and shown voters who he really is.”
The
allegations were described as “disturbing” by the chair of the all-party
parliamentary group against antisemitism.
The Labour
MP Joani Reid said: “I am sure they have caused concern amongst Britain’s
Jewish community, which is facing an unprecedented rise in antisemitism.
“I cannot
comment on the veracity of these claims, only on how they make me feel. I think
it essential that Mr Farage makes it clear he would not tolerate anyone in his
party expressing such views at any time, and that these are not views he would
ever express. Neither hatred of Jews nor any other racist opinion should be
tolerated in Reform or any other party in parliament.”
Sunder
Katwala, of the integration thinktank British Future, said while people who
“would never trust” Reform UK would see the claims about Farage’s schooldays
“as a gotcha”, others would regard the allegations as “from a different
culture, that we now understand as toxic.”
But the
allegations brought into “sharp focus” the “significant” question of Reform’s
reputation on race and how far it can be trusted, Katwala said.
Simon
Woolley, the founder of Operation Black Vote, said that people might ask
whether Farage’s alleged “toxic early views never disappeared at all” and may
have “merely shifted focus to other groups, including Muslims and black
people”.
The Lib Dem
home affairs spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, said: “A lot of people say stupid and
offensive things at school, but most grow out of it. Sadly, in Nigel Farage’s
case he’s made a career out of it instead.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário