david dean,political correspondent
Reform Britain leader Nigel Farage has insisted he has “never directly racially abused anyone” following complaints from 20 people.
An investigation by the Guardian spoke to contemporaries at Dulwich College who alleged that Farage made racist and anti-Semitic comments to them, which the spokesperson denied.
Speaking directly to a journalist about the allegations for the first time, Farage was pressed on what he meant by “directly” and replied: “To impose it on a person based on who they are or what they are.”
He also refused to hold an investigation into his own party after former Welsh Reform UK leader Nathan Gill was jailed for taking Russian bribes.
Allegations made in the Guardian also included that Farage had joked about gas chambers and that another student, when he was a prefect, was detained because of the color of his skin.
Asked about the claims, Farage responded: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could interpret as a playground joke, that you could interpret in some way in the modern light of day? Yes.”
He added, “I have never directly racially abused anyone. No.”
Pointing to “political disagreements” with some of his schoolmates, Farage also denied that he had “ever been part of any extremist organization or engaged in direct, unpleasant personal abuse, actual abuse on that basis”.
Asked whether he would categorically say that he did not racially abuse fellow pupils, Faraz said: “I would never do it in a hurtful or disrespectful way.”
Asked whether he perhaps said things to fellow students that were not intended to be hurtful or racist but that they took it that way, he said: “I hope not.”
And when asked if there were things he said at school that offended people, he replied: “Without a doubt.
“And without a doubt I will say things on this stage tonight that will make some people feel offended and use offensive words.
“It’s really free speech in some ways. Sometimes you say things that people don’t like.”
Asked whether he would apologize to those who are claiming he was racist towards them, Farage replied: “No, I don’t, because I don’t think I’ve done anything that directly offended anyone.”
Farage, who was an MEP from 1999 to 2020, and UKIP leader from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016, was also questioned about his former UKIP MEP colleague Nathan Gill, who was jailed for ten and a half years last Friday after admitting taking bribes to give pro-Russian interviews and statements while he was an MEP.
Gill was first elected as a UKIP MEP for Brussels in 2014, became a Brexit Party MEP in 2019, remained with the party when Reform UK was formed and became Welsh leader in 2021, although he failed to be re-elected shortly afterwards.
Farage was asked whether he needed to investigate any other Russian links within his party, but he said: “I’m not a police force, I don’t have the resources.”
He said he believed there should be a comprehensive investigation into Russian and Chinese interference in British politics, suggesting that MI5 should conduct it.
Farage said he was “as confident as I can be” that no one else in Reform past or present has done the same job as the former leader of Reform Wales, labeling the issue a “very minor embarrassment for Reform”.
He said: “I’m very surprised about Gill – he was in UKIP for a very, very long time – although his time in reform was very, very short…
“I have no affiliation with him and no one on my leadership team has any affiliation with him.”
Asked if this meant he could not rule out that there might be people in the party who may have spoken to him since his arrest, he said: “Nobody in authority.”
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