LONDON (Reuters) -Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, has said he has “never directly racially abused anybody”, after a report alleging he made antisemitic remarks at school.
The 61-year-old Brexit campaigner and his populist party have long been accused of flirting with racism, something which both have denied. The party, which is leading in opinion polls, has kicked out some members for unacceptable comments.
After the Guardian newspaper reported that some of Farage’s contemporaries at school had accused him of making racist and antisemitic remarks, Farage told BBC News: “I’ve never directly racially abused anybody. No.”
“Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they’re from? No,” Farage told BBC News late on Monday. “I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way.”
“Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter in a playground, that you can interpret in the modern light of day in some sort of way? Yes,” Farage added.
REPORT QUOTED PUPILS, TEACHER’S LETTER
When asked by BBC News if he had ever racially abused fellow pupils, the Reform leader responded: “Not with intent.” He added that he would not apologise “because I don’t think I did anything that directly hurt anybody.”
The Guardian newspaper said last week that more than a dozen former pupils at a fee-paying school in south London accused Farage of using antisemitic language, singing songs referencing gas chambers and performing Nazi salutes. Others said they did not remember racist behaviour.
The paper also cited a teacher’s 1981 letter – drawn from a biography published in 2022 about Farage – describing the Reform leader as having “publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views”.
The party denied the allegations to the Guardian.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called the allegations “disturbing” and called on Farage to explain himself.
Starmer also accused Farage of failing to act over “obvious racism” in his party after a member of Farage’s party, Sarah Pochin, apologised last month for saying adverts “full of Black people, full of Asian people” did not reflect society.
Farage condemned Pochin’s remarks as “ugly” but said they were not racist, prompting Starmer to brand him “spineless”.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti, editing by Elizabeth Piper and Andrew Heavens)
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