Good morning. For more than 30 years, Nigel Farage has been one of the most disruptive figures in British politics, known for building a brand on outrage and polarisation. He presents himself as the everyman, cigarette hanging out of his mouth or a pint in hand.
Now that several polls suggest he is a serious contender to be the next prime minister, it feels high time to ask: what’s the background of this supposed man of the people? The latest Guardian exclusive digs deep into just that question, where allegations from more than a dozen school contemporaries of Farage recount incidents of deeply offensive behaviour throughout his teenage years. This is not the whole picture. Others who knew Farage then remember he was bumptious, rude, provocative and enjoyed being the centre of attention, and do not recall the alleged behaviour.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke to the Guardian’s chief reporter, Daniel Boffey, about why he took on this investigation, what he found, and why voters need “full transparency” about the claims against Farage. That’s after the headlines.
Five big stories
US news | Donald Trump has signed a bill directing the justice department to release files from the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, surrendering in the face of joint pressure from Democratic opponents and the president’s conservative base.
UK news | Up to 50,000 nurses could quit the UK over the government’s immigration proposals, plunging the NHS into its biggest ever workforce crisis, research suggests.
Middle East | Israel used widely banned cluster munitions in its recent 13-month war in Lebanon, photos of munition remnants in south Lebanon seen by the Guardian suggest.
Ukraine | US and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military, according to reports.
Health | The world’s largest study into key substances in the bloodstream has paved the way for a swathe of pinprick tests that can detect early signs of disease more than a decade before symptoms appear, researchers say.
In depth: ‘What people were alleging was nasty. It seemed habitual’
Claims of racism against Farage as a schoolboy resurfaced in September after deputy prime minister David Lammy claimed in a BBC interview that Farage had “once flirted with Hitler Youth when he was younger”, but later clarified that Farage had denied these claims.
Lammy was referring to claims first aired by Channel 4 News over a decade ago. Chloe Deakin, formerly an English teacher at Dulwich college in south-east London, which Farage attended, said that some members of staff had described the young man as a “fascist”, with one reporting that he had marched through a “quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler Youth songs”. At the time, Farage admitted saying “some ridiculous things … not necessarily racist things … it depends on how you define it”.
Daniel Boffey decided to dig into the claims around Farage’s time at Dulwich, and to see whether Farage would respond in the same way now. “It looked like now he is getting closer to power he is trying to rewrite history and say ‘Nothing to see here’, so we thought we’d dig in and take a look.”
That digging led Daniel to more than 30 people who had overlapped with Farage at Dulwich.
“It was a case of trying to get in touch with as many contemporaries as possible,” says Daniel. Many claim to have vivid recollections of racist and rambunctious behaviour, but some said they just didn’t remember anything, or that what he was saying wasn’t seen as particularly out of line with the times.
The people who did have strong memories painted a clear picture. “You could maybe fall for Farage the affable rogue, but what people were alleging was nasty. It seemed habitual. The consistency from the ages of 13 to 18 was remarkable,” says Daniel.
Farage very much didn’t want this story told and tried “heavy-handed tactics” to stop us telling it, says Daniel. “Those tactics say a lot about him. I think a lot of people will be disturbed at how he appears to be trying to rewrite history, and threaten and bully journalists who are just trying to get to the truth.”
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‘A profoundly, precociously racist teenager’
Key allegations came from Bafta- and Emmy-winning director and producer Peter Ettedgui, whose grandparents escaped from Nazi Germany. He was in a class with Farage when they were both about 13 years old.
Farage would sidle up to Ettedgui and make comments such as “Hitler was right”, or “Gas them”, claims Ettedgui. He said he found Farage’s antisemitism “deeply shocking”. He also heard him calling other students “Paki” or “Wog”, and urging them to “go home”.
Ettedgui said that from his experience “there’s no doubt in my mind that he was a profoundly, precociously racist teenager”. Initially, he spoke to Daniel off the record, but after the Manchester synagogue attack he changed his mind, and felt he had to speak out publicly.
“What Farage is meant to have said clearly affected Ettedgui – he’d never experienced antisemitism before. When you accept it and normalise it, you end up in a dark place. I think not letting that happen was his motivation for going on the record,” says Daniel.
Other students allege that they heard similar language from Farage in sixth form, when he was about 17 years old. One of those recalls Farage, on three occasions, asking where he was from, before pointing away and allegedly saying: “That’s the way back.”
“Farage used to say things like ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas em’, you know, that sort of thing,” said former school friend Jean-Pierre Lihou.
Another pupil claims Farage “regularly” performed the Nazi “Sieg heil” salute, strutting around the classroom, and saying things such as “Hitler was right”. “It was habitual, you know, it happened all the time,” claims Tim France, who was in the same year as Farage when they were 18 and spent a lot of time near him because the class sat in alphabetical order.
Others who were at school with Farage do not recall this behaviour, and just say that he was rude, provocative and enjoyed being the centre of attention.
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Farage’s response
In legal letters to the Guardian, Farage emphatically denied saying anything racist or antisemitic when he was a teenager, while also questioning the public interest in airing allegations that date back over 40 years. A spokesperson for Reform UK said the allegations are “entirely without foundation”. This marks a change from his response to separate claims made in previous years – when he minimised the sort of behaviour he may have engaged in at Dulwich college, without denying it outright.
Keir Starmer has called on Farage to explain himself, while Starmer’s press secretary described the allegations as “disturbing”.
Daniel says: “The testimonies are overwhelming, and it’s important how he deals with it now. If he were to say, ‘I did some horrible things and I regret it, and anyone who does that stuff is out of order and completely wrong’, I’d have respect for that, but he’s not done that. It appears that he’s tried to lie, and say, ‘Nothing to see here.’”
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Voters need ‘full transparency’
Daniel believes Farage has been economical with the truth in the past, pointing to his ambiguous claim that leaving the EU would channel £350m per week into the NHS and that migrants are “eating swans and carp” in UK parks.
But in doing this investigative work, Daniel wanted to give the public a fuller idea of how Farage’s peers remember him, to see Farage’s response, and to be able to ask voters: “Are these claims about a character you are happy to put your cross against?”
Some also see a line between the policies of the Farage of now, and things he allegedly said in his past. One former Dulwich pupil, Nick Gordon Brown, remembers Farage as having been a “loud and frequent” supporter of the repatriation of immigrants at school – which is part of Farage’s policy platform now.
“I always remember his words – he used to refer to our ‘black and brown friends’ with that grin, with that tone of voice that anyone who sees him on the TV now will be so used to,” he said. “That was a constant narrative. I mean, arguably, it was his only narrative, and I think that remains his obsession to this day.”
It’s hard to know what reaction voters will have. Those who aren’t put off by Farage’s talk of repatriation now, for example, may be no more interested in whether he may have thought the same as a boy.
And for those who read these witness statements and find the detail disturbing, they still may reason that being a racist as an 18-year-old does not make you a racist at 61 years old.
But if Farage wants to be prime minister, these things matter, says Daniel. “The live issue is his response to it, and that ties in to everything else – is he open and transparent about who he is and what people say he’s done? All that is important.”
What else we’ve been reading
Look anywhere on the left and you’ll find calls for a wealth tax. But Aditya Chakrabortty questions in this fascinating column whether any tax would actually be worth it. “This isn’t much of a policy, it’s a pantomime – a pantomime of pseudo-radicalism in which the villains are some wankers on yachts and the solution is one simple trick, just like those dodgy internet ads used to offer,” he writes. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team
You may think of vast open rubbish tips as something you see in poorer countries, but Sandra Laville’s look into mountains of waste dumped in Oxfordshire tells another story, and points to large-scale corruption in UK waste management. Shocking, and likely to be widespread. Phoebe
What exactly is Donald Trump’s deal with Venezuela? This video from Tom Phillips, Laure Boulinier and Sarah Bertram is a handy explainer of the US president’s “dubious” airstrikes against alleged drug traffickers, and deployment of the US navy in the Caribbean. Charlie
This is the grim and remarkable story of Katrina Brownlee who was shot ten times by her fiance at the age of 22 and survived. She went on to work as a first-grade detective with 20 years’ working for the police. A gripping read. Phoebe
For our Pushing Buttons newsletter, Keza MacDonald wrote about the (really very good) Arc Raiders, and the brewing controversy over the game’s use of generative AI for in-game character voices. It’s a preview of a forthcoming battle for the soul of the multibillion-dollar games industry, she thinks. Charlie
Sport
Football | Alessia Russo’s second-half double secured a 2-1 comeback victory for Arsenal against Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League.
Cricket | Ben Stokes said he wants to become one of the “lucky few” England captains to claim an away Ashes victory, as he called on his players to forget a 15-year barren spell in Australia and “create our own history”.
Rugby union | Elliot Daly, Henry Slade, Ben Spencer and Asher Opoku-Fordjour have been named in a reshuffled England XV for their final autumn Test against Argentina on Sunday. Steve Borthwick has made six changes in total, with Ellis Genge and Luke Cowan-Dickie promoted from the bench.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “Starmer calls on Farage to address racism claims”. The i has “10% council tax hike for millions to transfer money to North and Midlands”. The Mail asks “What percentage of Britons think the economy is in a great state under Labour? Zero”. The Telegraph reports on a “‘Cash for land’ deal to end war in Ukraine”.
Following news of a Russian spy ship in UK waters, the Sun leads with “Ship hits the fan”. The Mirror goes with “We see you...We’re ready”. The Times reports “Trans guide to protect women left in limbo”. Finally the Financial Times says “Home investors pull £26bn from top London stocks despite blistering rally”
Today in Focus
Will the public sexual assault of the president mark a turning point for women in Mexico?
What will it take to improve women’s safety in Mexico? With Estefanía Vela Barba and Ann Deslandes.
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe has revealed that he sent a letter of encouragement and solidarity to Dominic McLaughlin, the 11-year-old actor cast as the young wizard in HBO’s forthcoming television adaptation of the series. “I just wanted to write to say, ‘I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did – I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better time,’” Radcliffe said.
“I just see these pictures of him and the other kids and I just want to hug them. They just seem so young. I do look at them and say, ‘Oh it’s crazy I was doing that.’ But it’s also incredibly sweet and I hope they’re having a great time.”
Whether Radcliffe’s letter was delivered by owl or regular post is unconfirmed.
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
