Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to apologize to his school contemporaries who claimed the reform leader racially abused them at Dulwich College.
The Guardian last week reported the testimony of Peter Ettedgui, which said that a 13-year-old Farage “would come up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘Gasing them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas splashes”.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Starmer said: “(Farage’s) explanations in recent days in relation to stories about what he has said in the past have been unconvincing to say the least.
“He says he never engaged in racism with intent. ‘With intent’. What does that mean? ‘Never engaged in racism with intent.” I have no doubt that if a young Jewish student were whispered to mimic the sounds of a gas chamber, they would find it disturbing.
“He might want to forget it. He won’t. He clearly remembers what happened. He should seek out those people and go and apologize to them.”
Farage’s allies initially told the Guardian: “The suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or anti-Semitic behavior is categorically rejected.” But in a broadcast interview on Monday night, Farage broke his silence on the allegations and denied any “intention” to hurt people because of their race or religion.
In another statement on Tuesday, he again appeared to be changing his stance. “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that were published in the Guardian at the age of 13, almost 50 years ago,” he said.
Faraz told GB News on Tuesday: “I completely deny the allegations made by this one individual.”
“A person says they’ve been hurt, and if they feel they’ve been hurt, I’m really sorry,” he said at a news conference after the budget on Wednesday. He then followed up with another forceful denial: “But I would never, ever, ever directly say or do anything like that about any human being. Absolutely not.”
He also said at the press conference that Ettedegui’s “recollections are absolutely false”. However, six others say they remember targeted abuse from Ettedgui, now an Emmy and BAFTA-winning director.
Ettedgui told the Guardian on Wednesday: “I very much appreciate the supportive words of the Prime Minister, as I am sure do many other people who suffered racist abuse from Farage at school.
“Although that abuse is still fresh in the memory four decades later, I’m not really sure which is more offensive: schoolboy Farage’s approving reference to Jews going to gas chambers, or adult Farage gaslighting those of us who have chosen to speak out with his bizarre denials and complete lack of remorse.”
I am writing first In the Guardian, Ettedegui responded to Farage’s denial, saying: “Farage suggests he has never ‘directly’ abused anyone, or at least he did not do so with the intention of hurting. He has said that those who have claimed otherwise are not telling the truth. Well, he targeted me directly and I can tell you it hurt. How did he think it would make me feel? What do he think? How did those who were called Pakistanis or asked to ‘go home’ feel?
“His colleagues have said it is ‘one person’s words against another’. The Guardian has spoken to around 20 people who have witnessed or experienced racist behaviour, including some who have corroborated my account.”
<a href