Reform UK leader Nigel Farage showed racist and antisemitic behaviour at school, claim ex-pupils
People who attended the same school as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claim he displayed aggressive behavior as a child, including giving Nazi salutes and using racial slurs.
The Clacton MP, who could potentially become Britain’s next prime minister because his party is ahead in opinion polls, strongly denies the claim allegations Guard that he used racist or antisemitic slurs when he was young.
He claimed that the newspaper was trying to denigrate the Reformation.
An old contemporary of his at Dulwich College in south London said: Guard The then 13-year-old felt humiliated by Mr Farage’s anti-Semitic remarks, in which he allegedly urged students of overseas heritage to “go home”.
Peter Ettedgui, now an award-winning director and producer, told the newspaper: “He would saunter up to me and grunt: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas showers.”
He added: “I wasn’t his only target. I could hear him calling other students ‘P***’ or ‘W**’ and encouraging them to ‘go home’. I tried to ignore him but it was humiliating. It was embarrassing.”
Mr Ettedgui said Mr Farage could suddenly become “charming” and added: “I would like to know why he never stood up or showed the slightest remorse.”
A second pupil, from a minority ethnic background, claimed that when Mr Farage was 17, the pupil asked where he was from and pointed in another direction and said: “This is the way back”.
Another Jewish former student, Prof Dave Edmonds, 61, said: Guard He had a strong memory of Mr Farage using “the W word for people of Afro-Caribbean descent and the P word for those of South Asian descent”.
He added: “I don’t remember being subjected to anti-Semitic remarks, but of course he made nasty comments about the war. I don’t think Jews were his main racial concern. He was generally as obsessed with the erosion of Britishness as it is now.”
But some students said Guard He simply said that he was arrogant, rude, provocative and enjoyed being the center of attention, insisting that they did not remember him using racist language.
There is no evidence that Mr Farage is a member of far-right organisations, nor is there any suggestion that he held the views attributed to him in his childhood.
In legal letters Guardquestioned the public interest in reporting historical allegations.
A Reform England spokesman said: “These allegations are completely unfounded. Guard provided no contemporaneous records or corroborating evidence to support these disputed memories from nearly 50 years ago.
“It is no coincidence that this newspaper is trying to discredit the Reform UK party, which has led in more than 150 consecutive opinion polls and is the favorite among leading bookmakers to become the next prime minister.
“We fully expect these cynical attempts to tarnish Reformation and mislead the public, becoming more intense as we get closer to the next election.”
