The Reform UK leader said he’d never made “hurtful or insulting” comments, but had “probably” misspoken as a child.
LONDON — Nigel Farage has rejected allegations that he racially abused fellow pupils as a schoolboy at Dulwich College in London.
The right-wing Reform UK leader insisted on Monday that he was never personally abusive to his classmates, but admitted he may have made inappropriate comments.
“This is 49 years ago,” Farage told broadcasters. “Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they’re from? No.”
The Guardian newspaper spoke to 20 of Farage’s contemporaries, some of whom claim Farage used racial slurs, told pupils to “go home,” and said “Hitler was right.”
Asked categorically to deny the allegations, the Reform UK leader said: “I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way,” adding: “I’d just entered my teens. Can I remember everything that happened at school? No I can’t.”
Farage said he had never been part of an “extremist organization” and hadn’t engaged in “direct, unpleasant, personal abuse.”
Pressed further, Farage said any inappropriate comments he had made were “not with intent.”
“Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter in a playground, you could interpret in the modern light of day in some sort of way? Yes,” he conceded. “Have I
ever misspoken in my life, in my younger days when I was a child? Probably.”
It is a perilous moment for the populist Farage, who has built his appeal around being a straight talker.
After the allegations emerged last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose ruling Labour Party has been consistently trailing Reform UK in opinion polls, called on Farage to explain the alleged comments “as soon as possible.”
The Reform UK leader appeared to question whether some of the allegations were politically motivated. “They’ve got good memories, haven’t they? … suddenly, after 49 years, they seem to have perfect recollection.”
It is not the first time Farage has been accused of making racist comments. Journalist Michael Crick reported similar allegations in 2013, and in his 2022 biography of Farage. Farage subsequently won a parliamentary seat in 2024, and continues to lead opinion polls.