Allegations about Nigel Farage’s schooldays have hit the headlines since the early days of the Brexit campaign in 2013.
He has always dismissed such claims as “politically motivated” and insisted recently he has “never directly racially abused anybody”.
But now, with the prospect of Prime Minister Farage looking ever more likely, former classmates have decided now is the moment to speak up about their concerns, almost 50 years later.
Warning: This article contains references to antisemitic slurs which readers may find offensive
The allegations are deeply shocking. Jean-Pierre Lihou told me Farage used to sing a sickening song about the Nazi gas chambers, which began “gas them all, gas them out, gas them all, into the chambers they crawl”.
Lihou claims Farage said non-white pupils should be sent home and had a particular issue with the fact that at one point the school had more pupils with the surname Patel than Smith.
Stefan Benarroch, meanwhile, told my colleague Ali Fortescue he witnessed Farage “tormenting others” and was himself “terrified” by Farage’s “gang of bullies” who he claims “were instructed to have a go at us as these young, nice Jewish boys” on their way back from Friday prayers.
The Guardian – whose investigation last month prompted a renewed focus on the issue – reports that 28 former teachers and pupils have come forward to report witnessing antisemitic or racist behaviour from him.
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A group of Holocaust survivors are now calling on Farage to either admit whether he said the words he’s accused of saying, and apologise, or accuse those who said he did of lying.
His political opponents – battered for so long in the polls by Reform UK – are keen to pile on the pressure too. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have urged him to “come clean” and apologise.
The Tories have also argued that if it’s true, Farage should say sorry, though Kemi Badenoch has certainly been more nuanced in her response than other political rivals, making the point that what most people may say as teenagers is very different from what they would say as adults.
Read more:
Farage dismisses school racism claims as ‘banter in a playground’
Farage needs to explain ‘racist’ comment allegations, says PM
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The problem for Farage is that far from going away – the story is only getting bigger.
He’s clearly hugely frustrated by this – as evidenced by the angry tirade he launched against the BBC this week when their reporter asked about the allegations.
He argued it’s “double standards” to criticise what he was alleged to have said 49 years ago, at a time when broadcasters were still showing blackface in The Black And White Minstrel Show.
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He also read out a letter he said had been sent to him by a Jewish contemporary pupil, who described “plenty of macho, tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter” – which, while sometimes “offensive”, was “never with malice”.
Reform has hit back against our story in bullish fashion, accusing Sky News of scraping the barrel in a desperate attempt to stop Reform UK winning the next election.
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Of course, the question of who will win the next election isn’t down to journalists – but voters.
And the jeopardy for Reform is whether these allegations will deter enough potential voters – particularly wavering Tories – to disrupt what has thus far been an unstoppable wave of support.
