Reform UK’s leader was questioned about accusations from former schoolmates, but insisted that he never ‘directly racially abused’ anyone
November 25, 2025 11:27
A Jewish Labour peer has urged Nigel Farage to “come clean” about whether he made racist comments, including airing antisemitic insults, as a schoolboy.
In an interview with ITV, the leader of Reform UK was asked whether he racially abused fellow students while he was at school. Farage replied: “No, this is 49 years ago, by the way. 49 years ago. Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they’re from? No.”
'I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way'
— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) November 24, 2025
Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school pic.twitter.com/N5LKkYQLol
Pressed on whether he would make a categorical on-the-record denial that he ever racially abused fellow students at school, Farage replied: “I would never do it in a hurtful or insulting way.”
After some more questioning on the topic, he added: “I just entered my teens. Can I remember everything that happened at school? No, I can’t.
"Have I ever been part of an extremist organisation or engaged in direct unpleasant personal abuse – genuine abuse – on that basis? No.”
Last week, The Guardian spoke to several of Farage’s contemporaries at Dulwich College, who claimed that he used racial slurs as a teenager.
Peter Ettedgui, the 61-year-old Emmy award-winning director and producer, told the paper: “He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers.”
He also claimed that Farage made racial slurs against black and Asian students.
On Monday evening, former chair of the Jewish Labour Movement Lord Katz attacked the Reform UK leader, saying: “Just when you thought Nigel Farage couldn’t sink any lower, he is trying to say abhorrent racist comments, including vile antisemitic insults, doesn’t matter.
"He seems to think that you can racially abuse people without it being hurtful and insulting. Let's be crystal clear: you can't.”
Katz added: “He should finally come clean on claims over his past and apologise to those who bravely spoke out. Failure to do so would be yet more evidence that Farage is simply unfit for office.”
Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde, the party’s president-elect, also criticised the interview: “The Reform leader’s refusal to deny that he’s said these racist remarks is unbecoming from someone who wants to be our next prime minister.”
"The British people deserve a straight answer”, he added.
When The Guardian first published its story, Reform UK claimed the allegations were “entirely without foundation”, adding: “The Guardian has produced no contemporaneous record or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.
“It is no coincidence that this newspaper seeks to discredit Reform UK – a party that has led in over 150 consecutive opinion polls and whose leader bookmakers now have as the favourite to be the next Prime Minister.
“We fully expect these cynical attempts to smear Reform and mislead the public to intensify further as we move closer to the next election.”
In a briefing with Westminster journalists last Wednesday, asked whether Farage would condemn the sort of language attributed to him if he heard it, a party spokesperson said "yes".
In an opinion piece for the JC on the anniversary of October 7, and in the aftermath of the Heaton Park terror attack, Farage attacked the rise and normalisation of antisemitism across the United Kingdom, which he said had “infected the institutions of our country”.
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
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