Starmer brands Farage ‘spineless’ amid claims about his schooldays
Sir Keir Starmer found himself in a heated row with Nigel Farage after branding the Reform leader “spineless” and urging him to explain allegations of racist behavior during his days at a top state school.
The Prime Minister said Mr Farage did not have a “good track record” because he had failed to take action against Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s “racist” remarks about the number of ethnic minorities appearing in television adverts.
Hitting back at Reform leader Sir Keir, who has denied allegations about his behavior while at Dulwich College as a teenager, he said it was “utterly ridiculous” that the “weakest prime minister in memory has called me a spinet”.
The Prime Minister’s comments came when he was asked a question. Guard This report is based on allegations from more than a dozen schoolmates of Mr Farage, 61, who described incidents of highly aggressive behavior throughout his teenage years.
The Labor leader told journalists traveling with him to the G20 summit in South Africa: “He needs to explain the comments that were made or the comments that were alleged and he needs to do that as soon as possible.
“He doesn’t have a good track record on this because MP Sarah Pochin has made openly racist comments and Nigel Farage has done absolutely nothing about it.
“The man is spineless. If he was from my party, I would deal with it immediately. He needs to explain the latest allegations and in doing so, he needs to explain why he is too spineless to take action on the blatant racism in his fellow MP’s comments.”
“He’s said absolutely nothing about this so far. He has a lot to say on a lot of issues other than the leadership he’s shown when it comes to racism.”
Threatening to take legal action over the allegations, Farage responded: “It is utterly ridiculous that the weakest prime minister in living memory calls me a spineless person.”
“Voters will have their say about both of us at the ballot box next May.”
A Reform source said Sir Keir was “desperate, failed at the ballot box and is reacting”.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the party also stated the allegations in the report. Guard He said it was “completely unfounded” and that the paper “has produced no contemporaneous records or corroborating evidence to support these disputed memories from nearly 50 years ago.”
Sir Keir’s comments about Ms Pochin came after the Reform MP last month said he was “going crazy” by seeing “adverts full of black and Asian people”, prompting widespread criticism.
He later said his remarks were “poorly worded” and apologized “for any offense caused”. He said many ads were trying to say that they were “not representative of British society”.
Mr Farage has resisted calls to distance himself from the party, saying he does not believe the “intent” behind his comments was “racist”, arguing they should be read in the context of “DEI”. [diversity, equity and inclusion] madness”.
But by writing IndependentDeputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the comments were “normalised” and marked a return to “open racism”.
He said many people were “disgusted” by the remarks and criticized those who “lead us to believe we are more divided than we actually are.”
Among those making allegations Guard This was Bafta and Emmy-winning director Peter Ettedgui, 61, who claims he was repeatedly verbally abused by Mr Farage at the ages of 13 and 14.
Mr Ettedgui described his experience of being in the same class as Mr Farage: “He would sidle up to me and mutter ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘Gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas showers.”
