Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has asserted that he has “never directly racially abused anybody,” following allegations made by 20 individuals who attended school with him.
A Guardian investigation featured accounts from former classmates at Dulwich College, who claimed Farage made racist and antisemitic remarks. A spokesperson for Farage has denied these allegations.
Addressing the allegations directly with a journalist for the first time, Farage, 61, was questioned about the meaning of “directly.” He responded, “By taking it out on an individual on the basis of who they are or what they are.”
He also dismissed the possibility of an internal investigation into his party after former Welsh Reform UK leader Nathan Gill was jailed for accepting pro-Russian bribes.
Among the claims reported in the Guardian are allegations that Farage made jokes about gas chambers and, while serving as a prefect, placed another student in detention due to their skin color.
When questioned about these accusations, Farage stated, “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.”
He added, “I’ve never directly racially abused anybody. No.”
Referring to “political disagreements” with some of his former schoolmates, Farage also denied “ever being part of an extremist organisation or engaged in direct, unpleasant personal abuse, genuine abuse, on that basis.”
When pressed on whether he would categorically deny racially abusing fellow pupils, Farage said, “I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way.”
Asked if he had perhaps said things to fellow pupils that he had not intended to be hurtful or racist, but they took it that way, he said: “I hope not.”
And asked whether he had said things at school that people might have taken offence to, he replied: “Without any shadow of a doubt.
“And without any shadow of a doubt I shall say things tonight on this stage that some people will take offence to and will use pejorative terms about.
“That is actually in some ways what open free speech is. Sometimes you say things that people don’t like.”
When asked if he would apologise to the people claiming he had been racist towards them, Farage replied: “No, I’m not, because I don’t think I did anything that directly hurt anybody.”
Farage, who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2020 and led UKIP from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016, was also questioned about his former UKIP MEP colleague Nathan Gill, who was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison last Friday after admitting to accepting bribes to provide pro-Russian interviews and statements during his time as an MEP.
Gill was initially elected to the European Parliament as a UKIP MEP in 2014, later becoming a Brexit Party MEP in 2019. He remained with the party as it transitioned into Reform UK, assuming the role of Welsh leader in 2021, although he was unsuccessful in his subsequent re-election bid.
Speaking at a Reform UK rally in Llandudno, North Wales, Farage noted that Gill was “briefly… leader of Reform Wales.”
He described Gill’s acceptance of bribes as “an absolute and total disgrace.”
“We disown his actions and we disown what he has done in every single way.”
In a separate interview, Farage was asked if he needed to investigate any other Russian links within his party, but said: “I’m not a police force, I haven’t got the resources.”
He added he thought there should be a broader investigation into Russian and Chinese interference in British politics, suggesting MI5 should conduct it.
Farage said he was as confident “as I can be” that no one else in Reform past or present had done similar things to the former Reform Wales leader, labelling the issue a “very minor embarrassment for Reform”.
He said: “I’m very shocked about Gill – he was in UKIP for a very, very long time – albeit it his time in Reform was very, very short…
“I’ve had no engagement with him and nobody in my leadership team has had any engagement with him whatsoever.”
Asked if that meant he could not rule out that there might be people in the party that might have spoken to him since his arrest, he added: “Nobody in authority.”
Liberal Democrat President-Elect Josh Babarinde MP said: “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.
“It looks like the mask has slipped and fact-of-the matter-Farage is turning into no-answers-Nigel.”
Labour accused Nigel Farage of claiming “you can racially abuse people without it being hurtful and insulting”.
Lord Mike Katz, a Labour peer and former Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, called on Farage to “come clean” about the claims and said “failure to do so would be yet more evidence that Farage is simply unfit for office”.
He said: “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.”
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The party’s head of policy says he has never met Nathan Gill, who served as the leader of Reform UK in Wales in 2021.
Peter Osborne, a Kent County Council cabinet member, says his WhatsApp message is not malicious.
Nathan Gill, 52, is sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison after admitting taking bribes while an MEP.
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has admitted bribery and will be sentenced on Friday.
Gill attended a police interview on 3 March 2022, and ‘answered no comment to all queries’.