Sir Keir Starmer has declared that Nigel Farage's response to allegations of racist behaviour during his school years was 'unconvincing to say the least' and has called on the Reform UK leader to issue a full apology.
Allegations of Offensive Behaviour
The Prime Minister's intervention follows a report by The Guardian last week, which contained allegations from more than a dozen of Mr Farage's former school contemporaries. The report suggested the 61-year-old politician engaged in deeply offensive behaviour throughout his teenage years while they were pupils at Dulwich College.
On Monday, Mr Farage was repeatedly questioned by broadcasters about whether he could definitively rule out having engaged in racial abuse. In his response, he stated, 'I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way,' later adding that if such incidents did occur, it was 'not with intent'. He further suggested that what might have been considered 'banter in a playground' decades ago could be interpreted differently today.
Political Fallout and Demands for Accountability
The controversy escalated during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday when Sir Keir directly addressed the allegations. He criticised Mr Farage's use of the phrase 'with intent', questioning what it truly meant in the context of racism.
'I have no doubt that if a young Jewish student was hissed at to mimic the sound of a gas chamber, they would find it upsetting,' Sir Keir stated emphatically. 'He may want to forget that. They won't. He clearly remembers some of what happened. He should seek those people out and go and apologise to them.'
Adding weight to the allegations, Mr Farage's former classmate, Peter Ettedgui, who is Jewish, told the BBC that the Reform leader was being 'fundamentally dishonest' in his denials. Mr Ettedgui claimed that Mr Farage had 'repeatedly' approached him at school and said 'Hitler was right'.
Mounting Pressure from All Sides
On Tuesday, Mr Farage released a new statement, asserting categorically: 'I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published in the Guardian aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.'
However, the pressure continued to mount. Labour peer Lord Mann, the government's independent adviser on antisemitism, condemned Mr Farage's attempt to dismiss the allegations as playground banter. He described it as 'as insulting as it is unbelievable' and joined the call for a full apology.
Sir Keir concluded that these events were revealing the 'true colours' of both Mr Farage and the Reform party, linking the personal allegations to the party's policies, such as a Reform-led council making working families £170 worse off.
