Nigel Farage has turned on broadcasters for questioning him about allegations of racist and antisemitic behaviour during his school years, as the number of former Dulwich College pupils who have come forward to the Guardian reached 28. At a press conference in London, the Reform UK leader suggested he would boycott the BBC and accused ITV of having its own case to answer, repeatedly shouting “Bernard Manning” in reference to the late comedian known for racist material.
The angry performance came as five more former school contemporaries alleged they had witnessed deeply offensive racist or antisemitic behaviour by Farage. Among them was Nick Hearn, a banker who described himself as “a conservative with a small C”, who said he regularly saw Farage abusing Peter Ettedgui, an Emmy- and Bafta-winning director. Ettedgui previously recalled Farage repeatedly growling “Hitler was right” or “Gas them” at him.
Hearn called on Farage to “come clean” about his past, describing the behaviour as “personal [and] vindictive” rather than mere “banter”, as Farage has characterised some remarks. Mark Bridges, another former pupil in Farage’s year, remembered him as “a racist bully” who tormented Ettedgui. The Guardian has also obtained a 1980 school roll showing 13 Patels and 12 Smiths, corroborating claims that Farage burned the roll in reaction to the number of Patels exceeding Smiths.
Another former pupil of Asian background said Farage would use “Enoch Powell was right” as a form of racial intimidation, and recalled an assembly where Farage loudly shouted out the name “Patel” to draw attention to it as foreign. Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has dismissed all accusers as liars.
