Politics nigel farage racism

An irritated Nigel Farage said he would never racially abuse someone ‘in a hurtful or insulting way’, which raised more questions than it answered – 23 top responses

Allegations of Nigel Farage behaving in a racist and antisemitic way during his years at the exclusive Dulwich College first surfaced more than 10 years ago, when Channel 4 revealed a 1981 letter from a teacher at the school, which described his behaviour as neo-fascist.

Contemporaries of Farage at Dulwich College later filled in details of his far-right tendencies, which included him singing Nazi songs and being obsessed with his own initials being that of the National Front.

Recently, more of those former Dulwich pupils have spoken out, describing how intimidated and distressed they had been by his racist and antisemitic abuse.

It took several days for him to address the fresh accusations, but on Monday, at a rally in Wales, he spoke to ITV News.

We thought that warranted a full transcript.

“Did you racially abuse fellow pupils when you were at school?”

“No. This is 49 years ago, by the way – 49 years ago.

Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they’re from? No.”

“At school, categorically on the record, you did not racially abuse fellow pupils?”

“I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way.”

“It’s not quite the same as not doing it.”

“It’s 49 years ago. It’s 49 years ago.”

“What difference does the time make?”

“I’d just entered my teens. Can I remember everything that happened at school? No, I can’t.

Have I ever been part of an extremist organisation, or engaged in direct, unpleasant personal abuse …genuine abuse, on that basis? No.”

“You’re not quite …that’s very, very caveated, you’re not quite ruling this out.

The question is ‘Did you ever racially abuse fellow pupils in school?”

“No, not with intent. Not with intent.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by ‘not with intent’.”

“You wouldn’t do. You wouldn’t do.”

“But, what does that mean?”

“No.”

“No what?”

“No, I have never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody.”

Somebody skipped Categorical Denial class at school. Perhaps he was too busy singing Nazi marching songs that day. Here’s how people have been reacting.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.