Nigel Farage’s racism denials are dishonest, says ex-classmate

A Jewish former classmate of Nigel Farage has told the BBC the Reform UK leader is being “fundamentally dishonest” by suggesting former pupils who say they witnessed his racism are not telling the truth.

Peter Ettedgui said Farage, now aged 61, had repeatedly told him “Hitler was right” and “gas them” when they were teenagers at Dulwich College, in London.

On Monday, Farage said he had “never directly racially abused anybody” after claims by former Dulwich College pupils, including Mr Ettedgui, that were first reported in The Guardian.

Mr Ettedgui said Farage’s claim that those making allegations about his past behaviour were not telling the truth had left him “really angry”.

The BBC has spoken to two former Dulwich College pupils who have backed up Mr Ettedgui’s version of events.

In response to Mr Ettedgui’s claims to the BBC, Farage told GB News: “I categorically deny saying those things, to that one individual, and frankly, frankly for the Guardian and the BBC to be going back just shy of half a century to come out with this stuff it shows how desperate they are.”

In a previous interview with the BBC’s Welsh political editor on Monday, Farage said he had probably “misspoken in my life, in my younger days, when I was a child”.

But he insisted he had not “directly racially abused” anyone “by taking it out on an individual on the basis of who they are or what they are”.

Asked if those making the allegations about him were telling the truth, he said: “Well, suddenly after 49 years they seem to have perfect recollection. I would say to you there is a strong political element to this.”

Pushed again on whether they were telling the truth, Farage said: “No, they are not telling the truth.”

After watching Farage’s denials in Monday’s BBC interview, Mr Ettedgui told the BBC: “This is a man who has power, influence, has had a massive impact on the direction of this country, for which, you know, hats off to him.

“And he is being fundamentally dishonest in everything that he says there. So I feel upset and angry about that.”

Mr Ettedgui is one of more than a dozen former Dulwich College pupils from the late 1970s and early 1980s who have claimed they witnessed Farage being racist.

As someone who sat near the future Reform leader in Class 3R at Dulwich College, Mr Ettedgui says he can clearly remember antisemitic abuse being directed at him, something he says he had never experienced before.

“One of the most vivid memories of my school life is Farage repeatedly coming up to me and, knowing that I was Jewish, saying Hitler was right and ‘gas ’em’, and that was frequently followed by a ‘sssss’, you know, kind of imitating the sound of escaping gas.

“That’s my abiding memory of him, and that sort of verbal abuse happened quite consistently over the year that we were together in the same class.

“And it was pretty vicious, it was pretty nasty, it was absolutely directed in a very personal way at me.”

He said Farage’s words had “hit hard” because his grandparents had escaped Nazi Germany and much of their family had perished in the Holocaust.

“It wasn’t the normal sort of vaguely antisemitic banter that you might encounter in the school grounds at that time in the 1970s. It was much worse,” he added.

Asked how he could be sure that his memory was correct, given that the events he describes happened many decades ago, Mr Ettedgui said: “I think anyone who suffers any kind of abuse, it’s going to mark their lives.

“And I carry that memory with me very, very strongly.”

He also hit back at Farage’s claim that he was a “child” at the time of the alleged incidents.

“We were teenagers, which in many religions is the age where you turn your gaze towards the adult world,” he said.

He added that the teenage Farage was “very well-informed” and “had a sense of history and politics already at that time”.

He rejected claims that his allegations were part of a politically motivated smear campaign, saying that he had “a deeply personal motivation” to speak out now because the idea of Farage becoming prime minister was “repellent and horrifying” to him.

“Is Farage saying here that around 20 people who go on the record, who either experienced or witnessed this kind of abuse, are we all lying?” he asked.

“Is this some sort of conspiracy between us all? Well, I can tell him right now, we haven’t spoken to each other. We haven’t coordinated this in any way.”

Asked by GB News, a channel that employs Farage as a presenter, whether Mr Ettedgui was “fundamentally dishonest”, he replied: “Had what he said been true do you think I would have been promoted in the sixth year to be a prefect?

“Do you think I’d have become a senior member of the school if they really thought, if the school knew and thought any of that stuff was true?”

Farage added: “His recollections are wrong. Beyond him, all the others say is they disagree with me politically which is perhaps not a huge surprise.”

Claims about Farage’s alleged teenage racism were first raised 13 years ago by journalist Michael Crick, when he was a reporter for Channel 4 News.

When The Guardian published fresh allegations last week, Reform UK said they were “entirely without foundation”.

In a statement issued after Mr Ettedgui and other former pupils spoke to the BBC, Farage said: “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.

“Isn’t it interesting: I am probably the most scrutinised figure in British politics, having been in public life for 32 years.

“Several books and thousands of stories have been written about me, but it is only now that my party is leading in the polls that these allegations come out. I will leave the public to draw their own conclusions about why that might be…

“We know that the Guardian wants to smear anybody who talks about the immigration issue.

“But the truth is that I have done more in my career to defeat extremism and far-right politics than anybody else in the UK, from my time fighting the BNP right up to today.”

He said many of the people making allegations “just happen to be political opponents” and it was “not the first time the desperate establishment has come after me, and it will not be the last”.

Some former Dulwich College pupils say they do not recognise the picture that has been painted of Farage or the allegations of racism against him.

Patrick Neylan, who was in the year below Farage at Dulwich College, told the BBC there was some singing of songs that he would not be proud of now.

But he added: “I never saw Farage being openly racist, antisemitic towards any individual…I’d be disappointed because I never thought of him as an overt racist.”

The BBC has spoken to two former pupils who say they remember Farage personally targeting Peter Ettedgui.

Jean-Pierre Lihou said: “I remember him specifically talking about ‘do go home, Hitler was right’, singing ‘Gas Them All’ and all of these absolutely antisemitic comments directed straight at Peter.”

He said he was convinced his memories were accurate and it “seems like yesterday to me”.

Another former pupil, Martin Rosell, who is now chair of the Liberal Democrats in Salisbury, also corroborated the antisemitism claims, claiming Farage used to “mutter something like ‘Jew’ under his breath” when Mr Ettedgui answered a question in class.

Asked if there was a political motivation behind his decision to speak out now, Mr Rosell said: “I don’t think so. I’m not doing this as a member of my local party.

“I am doing this as a human being who remembers something from 49 years ago, and my recollections are clearly the same as many other people.”

Reacting to the latest developments, Liberal Democrat president-elect and MP for Eastbourne, Josh Babarinde, said “people across the country will be watching with horror”.

“To make matters worse, the Reform leader shamefully brands them all liars rather than takes responsibility for his actions.

“The British public deserve decent politicians with integrity, not weasels who try to rewrite history when it doesn’t suit them.”

The government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Labour peer Lord John Mann, said: “Nigel Farage’s appalling attempt to shrug off serious allegations of antisemitism and other appalling forms of racism as playground banter is as insulting as it is unbelievable.

“Farage needs to do the decent thing and come clean with the British public about the full extent of his past behaviour and apologise to those who have bravely come forward to share their deeply upsetting and disturbing experiences.

“The British people expect all their party leaders to act with integrity and humility and are unforgiving of those who choose not to. Nigel Farage must confront the seriousness of this situation and apologise in person.”