.png)
4 days ago
10
Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to his school contemporaries who claim the Reform leader racially abused them while at Dulwich College.
The Guardian reported last week the testimony of Peter Ettedgui, who said a 13-year-old Farage “would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.
At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer said: “[Farage’s] explanation in recent days in relation to the stories about what he may have said in the past is unconvincing to say the least.
“He says he never engaged with racism with intent. ‘With intent’. What does that mean? ‘Didn’t engage in racism with intent.’ I have no doubt that if a young Jewish student was hissed at to mimic the sound of a gas chamber, they would find it upsetting.
“He may want to forget that. They won’t. He clearly remembers some of what happened. He should seek those people out and go and apologise to them.”
Aides to Farage had initially told the Guardian: “The suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied.” But in a broadcast interview on Monday night, Farage broke his silence over the allegations and denied any “intent” to inflict hurt on people due to their race or religion.
In a further statement on Tuesday, he appeared to change his stance again. “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published in the Guardian aged 13, nearly 50 years ago,” he said.
Farage told GB News on Tuesday: “I absolutely deny the charges that are made by this one individual.”
At a press conference on Wednesday after the budget, he said: “One person says they were hurt, and if they feel they were hurt, then I’m genuinely sorry.” He followed this with another emphatic denial: “But I never, ever, ever would have said or done anything like that directly to a human being. Absolutely not.”
He also said at the press conference that Ettedgui’s “recollections are simply wrong”. However, six other people say they recall the targeted abuse of Ettedgui, now an Emmy- and Bafta-winning director.
Ettedgui told the Guardian on Wednesday: “I hugely appreciate the prime minister’s supportive words, as I am sure will the many others who suffered racist abuse from Farage at school.
“While that abuse remains fresh in the memory over four decades later, I’m really not sure which is the more offensive: the schoolboy Farage’s approving references to Jews going to the gas chambers, or the adult Farage gaslighting those of us who have chosen to speak up with his bizarre denials and total lack of contrition.”
Writing earlier in the Guardian, Ettedgui responded to Farage’s denials, saying: “Farage suggests that he has never ‘directly’ abused anyone, or at least he did not do so with any intention to hurt. He has said that those who have claimed otherwise are not telling the truth. Well, he did directly target me and I can tell you that it did hurt. How did he think it would make me feel? How does he think those who were called Pakis or told to ‘go home’ felt?
“His aides have said it is ‘one person’s word against another’. The Guardian has spoken to about 20 people who witnessed or experienced racist behaviour, including a number who have corroborated my account.”
