Nigel Farage has responded to allegations of racism while he was at school.
The Reform UK leader categorically denied he had ever racially abused people in a “hurtful or insulting” way in an interview with ITV.
Farage’s former classmates at Dulwich College had alleged he made pro-Hitler remarks, joked about gas chambers and put someone in detention for the colour of their skin.
Award-winning director and producer, Peter Ettedgui - who was 13 at the time - told the Guardian Farage told him “Hitler was right”, and “Gas them” before hissing to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Another accuser said Farage was part of a youth organisation called the CCF and had taught songs to other members about gassing Jews.
Patrick Neylan, a 61-year-old editor, who was in the year below Farage claimed he sang the “gas’em” song at CCF camps. Tim France, 61, who was in the same school year as Farage, claimed he would routinely perform the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute.
All these allegations were denied last week by a spokesperson for Reform UK, who claimed the reports were an attempt to smear the party.
In a tense ITV News interview, Farage was asked directly if he racially abused students at school, to which he replied: "No. This is 49 years ago, by the way, 49 years ago.
🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage responds to allegations that he made racist comments to his classmates at Dulwich College
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) November 24, 2025
"I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way.... it's 49 years ago" pic.twitter.com/OLf1C2kNel
“Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they're from? No."
When he was asked to state on the record that he did not racially abuse fellow pupils at school, he replied: "I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way."
To this, the interviewer responded: "That's not quite the same as not doing it."
Farage replied: "It's 49 years ago. It's 49 years."
When he was asked what difference that made, he replied: "I had just entered my teens. Can I remember everything that happened at school? No, I can't.
“Have I ever been part of an extremist organisation or engaged in direct, unpleasant personal abuse, genuine abuse on that basis? No."
The interviewer told Farage he had caveated this and was not quite ruling this out, before asking again if he had racially abused fellow pupils.
Mr Farage said: "Not with intent."
When pressed on the matter again, he said: "No, no, I have never, directly, really tried to go and hurt anybody."
No account has stated Farage holds the same opinions as an adult as those that have been claimed about him as a child, and accounts of other students do not include the comments recalled by Ettedgui.
In a statement responding to the allegations, a spokesperson for Reform said: “These allegations are entirely without foundation. The Guardian has produced no contemporaneous record or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.
"It is no coincidence that this newspaper seeks to discredit Reform UK - a party that has led in over 150 consecutive opinion polls and whose leader bookmakers now have as the favourite to be the next Prime Minister.
"We fully expect these cynical attempts to smear Reform and mislead the public to intensify further as we move closer to the next election.”
