David Lammy tells of ‘traumatic’ racial abuse in youth after Farage allegations | David Lammy
David Lammy has spoken of his own “traumatic” experience of being racially abused at school as he called on Nigel Farage to apologize for comments he allegedly made as a teenager.
Deputy prime minister and justice minister Lammy said the testimony of more than 20 of the Reform leader’s school contemporaries about his racist and anti-Semitic behavior was “deeply disturbing”.
Farage has faced repeated calls for repentance following the Guardian’s investigation into his time at Dulwich College in south-east London, but has yet to apologize.
While he denied that anything he did as a young man was “directly” racist or anti-Semitic, he acknowledged that the “joke” could be interpreted differently today.
Lammy, 53, whose parents David and Rosalind came to the UK from Guyana, compared Farage, 61, to those who abused him as a young man growing up in north London.
He said: “I was at school at the same time as Nigel Farage, late 70s, early 80s, and a few former classmates contacted me to apologize for some of the racist abuse I received at the time. “He should do the same.
“That kind of treatment during teenage years is actually quite traumatic and very isolating. It’s very, very disturbing to read these stories. He’s now the leader of a political party. He should do the right thing and apologize.”
Allegations from Farage’s schoolmates suggest that Farage engaged in racist behavior during his time at secondary school, including targeting certain ethnic minority children with insults.
Among those who have given detailed evidence of their alleged experiences is Emmy and Bafta-winning director Peter Ettedgui, who alleged that the 13-year-old Farage would “walk up to them and grunt ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas showers”.
Another ethnic minority student claimed he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage when he was around nine years old. “He walked up to a student who was flanked by two friends of similar height and talked to anyone who looked ‘different’,” the student said. “This included me asking three times where I was from and pointing somewhere else and saying ‘this is the way back’ to where you replied you were from.”
Farage claimed almost two dozen former classmates who told the Guardian they witnessed racist behavior were politically motivated and not telling the truth. He specifically denied Ettedgui’s allegations.
Keir Starmer called Farage “spineless” and on Monday attorney general Richard Hermer noted that the Reform leader had not condemned antisemitism in any of his comments since the allegations emerged.
Hermer said: “It is simply not credible to claim that 20 people somehow misremembered the same things about his bad behavior. Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions put to him, Farage never once actually condemned antisemitism.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed dismay at Farage’s “desperate” denials as he described how his experiences as a child shaped his life. “Being called the P word at that age not only hurts you, it changes you,” he said.
