Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (Image: Getty)
Nigel Farage has “categorically” denied claims of racism during his schooldays in a new statement. The Reform UK leader has faced allegations of racist behaviour while at Dulwich College as a teenager.
The Clacton MP branded the claims as a “smear”, adding that it was “not the first time the desperate establishment has come after me, and it will not be the last”. It comes after Mr Farage yesterday insisted he never engaged in racist behaviour “with intent” in an interview.
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In his statement tonight, he 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.
“Many of those making these statements just happen to be political opponents. One, for example, is the current chair of the Salisbury Lib Dems.
“This is not the first time the desperate establishment has come after me, and it will not be the last.
“So again: I can categorically say that the stories being told about me from 50 years ago are not true.”
The Guardian’s report was based on allegations from more than a dozen school contemporaries of Mr Farage, 61.
A spokesman for the Reform leader previously denied the claims on his behalf.
Nigel Farage Issues New Statement Over School Racism Allegations – ‘Smears’
Nigel Farage has issued a fresh statement rejecting allegations about racist and antisemitic behaviour during his school years, describing the claims as part of an attempt to “smear” him and Reform UK.
The controversy centres on allegations concerning Farage’s time at Dulwich College in London almost five decades ago. Former pupils have provided accounts to the Guardian alleging that Farage used racist and antisemitic language as a teenager and, in some cases, targeted other pupils because of their ethnic or religious background.
Farage has strongly disputed those accounts. However, his responses have attracted further attention because his language has evolved from an outright rejection of the allegations to a more qualified explanation in which he acknowledged that he cannot remember everything that happened when he was a teenager.
The dispute has consequently become both a question about events alleged to have happened nearly 50 years ago and a contemporary political controversy involving Reform UK, Labour and the Conservative Party.
The allegations against Farage
The allegations emerged publicly through a Guardian investigation in November 2025.
The newspaper reported that it had spoken to more than 20 people who claimed to have knowledge of Farage’s conduct while he was a pupil at Dulwich College. Some former pupils alleged that he used racial and antisemitic insults, while others described behaviour they considered provocative or intimidating.
One of the most prominent accounts came from Peter Ettedgui, a former school contemporary who later became a film and television producer. Ettedgui alleged that Farage approached him when they were teenagers and made comments referring to Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.
Other former pupils also described alleged racial language and incidents involving students from minority ethnic backgrounds. The allegations were said to span several years of Farage’s school life.
These accounts remain disputed allegations rather than established findings by a court or other official investigation.
Importantly, the reporting also included former pupils who did not recall Farage behaving in the way alleged. The Independent noted that some contemporaries remembered him as provocative, rude or attention-seeking but said they did not remember him using racist language. It also reported that there was no evidence that Farage had ever been a member of a far-right organisation.
That distinction matters because the allegations concern behaviour during adolescence, while Farage is now a senior political figure whose current views and conduct are separate questions.
Farage’s initial response
Farage’s representatives initially responded to the allegations in unequivocal terms.
A spokesperson for the Reform leader said the allegations were “entirely without foundation” and argued that the Guardian had failed to produce contemporaneous evidence or corroboration for recollections dating back almost 50 years.
The spokesperson also accused the newspaper of attempting to discredit Reform UK and described the reporting as part of a political effort to damage the party.
The legal dimension was also significant.
According to the Guardian’s timeline of Farage’s responses, his representatives had threatened legal action if the newspaper published allegations suggesting that he had engaged in, condoned or led racist or antisemitic behaviour. The dispute therefore moved beyond political criticism into the territory of potential defamation proceedings.
Farage’s supporters argued that memories of events from the 1970s should be treated cautiously, particularly where there are no surviving contemporary records.
Critics responded that the number of people independently describing similar events warranted public examination.
That disagreement remains at the heart of the controversy.
His later answer was more complicated
The issue intensified when Farage was personally questioned about the allegations.
On November 24, 2025, he said that he had never deliberately targeted an individual because of where they came from. He also stressed the passage of time, noting that the events were approximately 49 years earlier and saying he could not remember everything that happened at school.
When pressed about whether he had racially abused fellow pupils, Farage said he had not done so “with intent” and said he had never directly tried to hurt anybody.
That wording was more qualified than the categorical denials previously issued by his representatives.
It created a new political problem because opponents argued that phrases such as “not with intent” appeared to leave open the possibility that offensive language had been used.
Farage subsequently went further in rejecting the specific allegations, saying he categorically did not say the things attributed to him in the Guardian’s reporting. He also accused the newspaper of trying to smear people who discuss immigration.
The difference between denying a specific allegation and acknowledging that one cannot remember every incident from adolescence became a major feature of the debate.
Why Farage calls the claims a “smear”
For Farage, the controversy is not simply about his schooldays.
He has argued that the allegations have been revived because of his present position as leader of Reform UK and because of the party’s political challenge to established parties.
The Independent reported that Reform’s response described the allegations as an attempt to “smear” the party and argued that the timing was politically significant.
This is a recurring argument in political controversies involving historical allegations.
Supporters of a politician may argue that decades-old claims are being selectively revived because the individual has become politically influential. Opponents may argue that the age of an allegation does not automatically make it irrelevant, particularly if several people independently describe similar experiences.
Neither argument by itself establishes whether a particular allegation is true.
The factual question remains what happened at the time, what evidence survives and how reliably the events can now be reconstructed.
Political pressure from Labour
The controversy also entered parliamentary politics.
Keir Starmer subsequently called on Farage to apologise to people who alleged that they had been victims of racist abuse at school. Starmer argued that Farage’s explanations were unconvincing.
For Labour, the issue provided another opportunity to challenge Reform’s claim to represent a different political establishment.
For Reform, however, the controversy was presented as evidence of what the party regarded as an effort to discredit Farage personally rather than debate its policies.
The dispute therefore became intertwined with the broader rivalry between Reform UK and its political opponents.
That rivalry is particularly significant because immigration and national identity are central issues for Farage and Reform. Allegations concerning racism and antisemitism inevitably intersect with questions about how the party discusses ethnicity, immigration and British identity today.
Yet historical allegations about a teenager should not automatically be treated as proof of an individual’s current political beliefs.
The Independent specifically noted that there was no evidence Farage had ever belonged to a far-right organisation and no suggestion that he necessarily holds as an adult the views attributed to him as a schoolboy.
Other former pupils dispute the “banter” explanation
The controversy did not disappear after Farage’s November 24 interview.
Several additional former pupils subsequently rejected the suggestion that the alleged incidents could simply be described as ordinary schoolboy banter.
The Guardian reported that three more contemporaries disputed Farage’s characterization, with some claiming that the alleged comments were targeted and persistent rather than merely general playground language.
This illustrates one of the most difficult aspects of the dispute.
The social environment of British schools in the 1970s was different from today’s standards. Language that may have been tolerated, ignored or treated as crude humour at the time can be viewed very differently today.
But the existence of a different cultural environment does not itself establish whether a specific individual made a particular statement or targeted a particular person.
That is why the competing recollections remain so important.
Farage’s later confrontation with the BBC
The controversy continued into December.
During a press conference, Farage attacked the BBC over its coverage of the allegations and accused the broadcaster of double standards. He referred to controversial BBC programming from the 1970s and 1980s and demanded an apology from the corporation.
He also cited a letter that he said came from a former school contemporary who described the environment at Dulwich as involving “tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter” that could sometimes be offensive but was not necessarily malicious.
The episode demonstrated how Farage has chosen to respond politically: rather than simply discussing the individual allegations, he has also challenged the credibility and motives of media organisations reporting them.
Critics have argued that this deflects attention from the substance of the accusations. Farage and his supporters maintain that the media have treated disputed memories as established facts.
What can actually be established?
The central difficulty is the passage of time.
The alleged events took place around five decades ago. Some witnesses say they remember specific incidents clearly, while others have different recollections. Some former pupils support the allegations, while others say they did not witness such behaviour.
There is therefore an important difference between reporting that people have made allegations and stating that those allegations have been conclusively proved.
At the same time, the age of an allegation does not automatically make it false.
The most accurate description is that former pupils have made serious allegations, Farage has denied the specific claims, and the competing accounts remain politically and publicly disputed. The available reporting does not establish a judicial finding that Farage committed the alleged acts.
A controversy bigger than Farage’s schooldays
The row has nevertheless become significant because of what Farage represents in contemporary British politics.
His political career has repeatedly involved debates about immigration, national identity and the boundaries of acceptable political language. Consequently, allegations concerning his own teenage behaviour have inevitably attracted intense scrutiny.
For Farage, the accusations are evidence of what he describes as an attempt to discredit him and Reform UK.
For his critics, the allegations raise questions about accountability and whether political leaders should address credible accusations about their past rather than dismissing them as politically motivated.
The disagreement is unlikely to be resolved simply by political rhetoric.
Ultimately, the controversy depends on competing historical recollections, documentary evidence where available, and the credibility that readers and voters assign to the different accounts.
What is beyond dispute is that Farage has strongly rejected the allegations and has described them as a smear, while several former school contemporaries have publicly maintained their accounts. The political argument surrounding the claims is therefore likely to continue, even as the events themselves remain almost half a century in the past.