Reform UK’s Nigel Farage says he ‘never directly racially abused anybody’ after school charges
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Britain's Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage said he would not apologise “because I don’t think I did anything that directly hurt anybody.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - Mr 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 anti-Semitic 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 Mr Farage’s contemporaries at school had accused him of making racist and antisemitic remarks, Mr 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,” Mr Farage told BBC News late on Nov 24. “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,” Mr Farage added.
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 Mr Farage of using anti-Semitic 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 Mr 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 Mr Farage to explain himself.
Mr Starmer also accused Mr Farage of failing to act over “obvious racism” in his party after a member of Mr Farage’s party, Ms Sarah Pochin, apologised in October for saying adverts “full of Black people, full of Asian people” did not reflect society.
Mr Farage condemned Ms Pochin’s remarks as “ugly” but said they were not racist, prompting Mr Starmer to brand him “spineless”. REUTERS
