Nigel Farage’s biographer says Reform UK leader should apologise after fresh claims of racism at school – UK politics live

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Mishal Husain calls for end to ministers picking BBC board members amid ‘existential crisis’

The former BBC journalist Mishal Husain has said the current crisis at the corporation feels “existential”, as executives prepare to be questioned about it in the House of Commons early next week. Robyn Vinter has the story.

I have beefed up the earlier post at 10.29am with John Healey’s comments about the Russian spy ship Yantar with more direct quotes. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.

These are from Arj Singh from the i who asked John Healey at the press conference about the propects of the UK joining the EU’s Safe defence investment fund. (See 10.40am.)

Downbeat assessment of chances of the UK joining the EU rearmament fund from Defence Sec John Healey

As we reported last week, UK prepared to walk away as EU demands billions to “pay to play”:

Healey said the UK is willing to contribute to the “costs” of running the SAFE rearmament scheme but won’t pay for something that lacks value for money

Farage biographer Michael Crick says Reform UK leader should apologise in light of new evidence of his schoolboy racism

Yesterday the Guardian published a long investigation into Nigel Farage’s time as a schoolboy at Dulwich College, a private school in south London, and it quoted multiple contemporaries (mostly on the record) who call him being racist and antisemitic. Reform UK says the claims are without foundation.

This morning Michael Crick, who published a biography of Farage three years ago, is urging Farage to apologise.

Crick, who is a very distinguished investigative reporters and biographer, looked into the claims about Farage’s racism in his youth in some detail. He quoted people who recalled Farage saying deeply offensive things. But, in the book, he said the pictured was “confused”. He explained:

Old Boys from his time probably divide fairly equally. For everyone who recalls Farage voicing extreme views, another will say they heard nothing untoward.

Today Crick says he has revised his view in the light of the Guardian investigation, which he says builds on his work and goes further. He says Farage should apologise.

Today’s Guardian feature on Farage’s anti-semitism & racism at Dulwich College is largely based on my book One Party After Another & my past films for C4News, but they’ve got more witnesses, & more detail, so it’s not credible to deny his vile pattern of behaviour at that time.

Rather than completely deny his behaviour - which Farage didn’t entirely do back in 2013 - he & Reform UK would do better publicly to make a genuine heartfelt apology to the Dulwich boys who suffered his anti-semitic & racist bullying. Farage & Reform’s denials aren’t credible.

Healey says UK wants to join EU's Safe defence investment scheme, but not 'at any price'

Q: What are the chances of the UK and the EU getting a deal on UK being admitted to the EU’s Safe (Security Action for Europe) fund, which will provide loans to finance defence investment, given the two sides are so far apart?

(It has been reported that the EU wants the UK to contribute €6bn to participate, and that the UK is only willing to pay a fraction of that.)

Healey says he hopes there will be a deal. The UK has been waiting for weeks for details from Europe. The UK is ready to be part of the scheme, but not “at any price”. The British defence industry is “second to none” in Europe.

Britain will play its part in the defence of Europe, “in or out of Safe”.

Q: Why are we selling jets to Turkey when it is the third largest importers of Russian oil?

Because it is a major Nato country, Healey says.

And he says that bringing another country into the group of Typhoon-flying nations will strengthen European security.

And the deal will help secure 20,000 UK jobs for years, he says.

Asked about the spy threat from China, Healey says the Commons speaker gave advice to MPs. He does not know if MoD officials have been approached using the methods described yesterday when the threat to parliamentarians was described.

Healey says he's change rules of engagement to respond to Russian spy ship shining lasers at RAF pilots

At the start of his speech Healey said a Russian spy ship called Yantar is on the edge of British waters. He said it had been mapping undersea cables, and shining lasers at RAF pilots, which he said was “highly dangerous”. He said:

My message to Russia and to Putin is this: We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.

Asked about this in the Q&A, Healey says this is the first time Yantar has done this. The government is taking it extremely seriously. He says he has changed the terms of engagement, so that the UK can follow it more closely when it is in British waters. He says he will not give details, but he says the government has “military options ready”.

The last time Yantar was there, the MoD surfaced a nuclear-powered submarine that had been tracking it, which it did not know about, he says.

UPDATE: Healey said:

On the Yantar, this is the second time in a year that it’s entered UK waters.

It is part of a Russian fleet designed to put and hold our undersea infrastructure and those of our allies at risk.

It isn’t just a naval operation. It’s part of a Russian programme driven by what they call the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, or GUGI, and this is designed to have capabilities which can undertake surveillance in peacetime and sabotage in conflict.

That is why we’ve been determined, whenever the Yantar comes into British wider waters, we track it, we deter it and we say to Putin we are ready, and we do that alongside allies.

You saw this last year in the way that Britain led the response to attacks on critical infrastructure with other Baltic and Nordic nations, and then Nato stepped in as well with their operation.

So, it’s a demonstration, if you like, of a British readiness to act, a British capability to act, because, make no mistake, we will not tolerate a threat to the British people’s essential connections under water.

And, asked specifically about the ship shining lasers at RAF pilots, Healey said:

Clearly, anything that impedes, disrupts or puts at risk pilots in charge of British military planes is deeply dangerous.

This is the first time we’ve heard this action from [Russian ship] Yantar directed against the British RAF. We take it extremely seriously.

I have changed the Navy’s rules of engagement so that we can follow more closely, monitor more closely the activities of the Yantar when it’s in our wider waters.

HMS Somerset (front) shadowing the Russian spy ship Yantar near UK waters in January this year.
Photograph: Royal Navy/PA

This is what Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor, posted during John Healey’s speech.

Watching a rare speech from def sec John Healey in 9 Downing St. A special outing from Labour’s safest pair of hands in an attempt to short up messy budget pitch rolling, justifying boost to defence budgets. “We’re getting on with the job we were elected to do,” he says.

Q: Do you agree with the German govenrment’s assessment that Russia could attack Europe within five years? And can Britain be put on a war footing without taxes going up?

Healey says the government cannot turn around the situation overnight.

The government has set out its plans. And it has a “Nato first” commitment, because the UK won’t fight alone.

Private investment is rising too, he says.