Nigel Farage’s wholesale denial of claims from witnesses of alleged racist behaviour during his teenage years has been described as “troubling” by the last government’s adviser on political extremism.
Lord Walney, who was an adviser to the Conservative government as a cross-bench peer, said testimonies reported by the Guardian appeared credible and that the Reform leader’s response would be concerning to many.
Farage has issued a blanket denial that he behaved in a way that was antisemitic or racist as a teenager, including to allegations that he targeted ethnic minority children for abuse during his time at Dulwich college, sang a “Gas em all” song that referred to the killing of Jewish, black and south-east Asian people and burned a school roll in a year when there were said to be more Patels than Smiths.
When previously faced with claims from Channel 4 in 2013 about his conduct at school, he admitted saying “some ridiculous things … not necessarily racist things … it depends on how you define it”.
In response to the fresh allegations, a spokesperson for Reform, which is leading in the opinion polls, told the Guardian they were “entirely without foundation”, describing them as an attempt to smear their party leader.
Walney, the former Labour MP John Woodcock, who was appointed by Boris Johnson as an adviser on political violence and extremism and continued in that role under Rishi Sunak, suggested a prospective prime minister should not seek to brush off such claims.
He said: “These detailed testimonies from Mr Farage’s contemporaries appear credible and describe a degree of extremism that cannot be summarily dismissed as irrelevant simply because it was alleged to have occurred when he was a teenager.
“Many people will readily accept that young people can espouse offensive or extreme views that should not define their character as an adult.
“They will be more concerned by the fact that Mr Farage is apparently now completely denying he ever said anything racist or antisemitic as a child, despite several public statements to the contrary from people who say they were on the receiving end of it from him.
“This suggests a man not at ease with his past – a troubling characteristic for someone who is seeking to govern the country.”
The Guardian spoke to more than a dozen contemporaries of Farage at Dulwich college, a public school in south London, who said they had witnessed “racist” behaviour by Farage.
Among those was the Bafta and Emmy-award winning director Peter Ettedgui, 61, who claimed to have been verbally abused by Farage repeatedly as a 13- and 14-year-old.
“He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers,” Ettedgui claimed of his experience of sharing a class with Farage.
Not all of the school contemporaries who spoke to the Guardian recalled racist behaviour or felt that he was bigoted. But a number of those who did experience such behaviour said they had been motivated to speak out by Farage’s failure to show contrition about his past.
Anna Turley MP, the chair of the Labour party, said: “These are disturbing allegations, and it is vital that Nigel Farage now urgently explains himself. We have seen Farage’s weakness in the face of the divisive politics in Reform’s ranks. They are dragging our politics to a dark place.
“This Labour government stands for our patriotic British values of decency and tolerance, and importantly unity – we are building a Britain for us all.”
The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, said: “A lot of people say stupid and offensive things at school, but most grow out of it. Sadly, in Nigel Farage’s case he’s made a career out of it instead.”
Georgina Laming, the director of campaigns at Hope Not Hate, said: “These revelations are sadly no surprise. Nigel Farage has consistently expressed anti-immigrant and intolerant views and shown voters who he really is.”