Nigel Farage denies saying anything racist ‘with malice’ as he attacks BBC
Nigel Farage has denied saying anything racist “with malice” in his latest attempt to address allegations of abuse made by numerous of his contemporaries at school.The Reform leader declined to call his accusers liars, but lost his cool as he turned his fire on the BBC for questioning him about alleged antisemitic comments.He became increasingly angry as was asked by the BBC about his deputy leader, Richard Tice, saying the testimony of his former classmates was “made-up twaddle” and lies.Tice had earlier been questioned by the BBC’s Emma Barnett, who pressed the politician on Farage’s “relationship with Hitler”, in relation to allegations from a Jewish former classmate that Farage had said to him: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas them.”In response, Farage launched a tirade against the BBC and said he would no longer speak to the broadcaster, calling it “despicable” and “beyond belief”.
Describing Barnett as one of the BBC’s “lower-grade presenters”, he criticised the way she asked the question, and then attacked the BBC for the fact it was showing programmes in the 1970s and 1980s that would be viewed as racist today,“I cannot put up with the double standards of the BBC about what I’m alleged to have said 49 years ago, and what you were putting out on mainstream content,So I want an apology from the BBC for virtually everything you did throughout the 1970s and 80s,” he said, referencing comedian Bernard Manning and the fictional character Alf Garnett, as well as The Black and White Minstrel Show,He went on to read out a letter he said he had received from a former schoolmate at Dulwich college, who said he never heard the Reform UK leader racially abuse anyone,The letter said: “I was a Jewish pupil at Dulwich college at the same time and I remember him very well.
While there was plenty of macho tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter, it was humour, and yes, sometimes it was offensive … but never with malice.I never heard him racially abuse anyone.“If he had, he would have been reported and punished.He wasn’t.The news stories are without evidence, except for belatedly, politically dubious recollections from nearly half a century ago.
Back in the 1970s the culture was very different … especially at Dulwich.Lots of boys said things they’d regret today or just laugh at.Whilst Nigel stood out, he was neither aggressive nor a racist.”Asked repeatedly whether his accusers, such as the producer Peter Ettedgui, were liars and making things up, Farage declined to endorse Tice’s words.When Farage was asked again by ITV about the allegations, he attacked the broadcaster for having featured the racist comedian Bernard Manning.
Pressed on whether the allegations about racist comments were events that really happened, but his classmates experienced them in a different way, Farage said: “Recollections may vary.”Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party, said: “Nigel Farage can’t get his story straight.It really shouldn’t be this difficult to say whether he racially abused people in the past.“So far, he’s claimed he can’t remember, that it’s not true, that he never “directly” abused anyone, that he was responsible for “offensive banter”, and deflected by saying other people were racist too.“Instead of shamelessly demanding apologies from others, Nigel Farage should be apologising to the victims of his alleged appalling remarks.
”The Conservatives said Farage had “just called a press conference and used it to rant at journalists over historic allegations of racism and antisemitism – allegations he has just admitted are true,”
No 10 to delay four England mayoral elections amid accusations of ‘cancelling democracy’
Ministers are to postpone elections for new mayors in four parts of England, prompting accusations from opposition parties that Downing Street is “cancelling democracy”.Newly created mayoralties in Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, Hampshire and the Solent, and Sussex and Brighton will be first contested in 2028 under the plans, ministers confirmed on Thursday.The government argued that the areas needed more time to complete their local government reorganisation, but faced criticism from opposition parties and the Labour former local government minister.Jim McMahon, who was removed as a minister in September, said his party needed “to be better than this” and had “a moral and a legal obligation to honour its side of the bargain”.Criticising the postponement in the Commons, he said: “All involved had a reasonable expectation that these elections would go ahead, and the government knows that trust is hard won but is easily squandered
Nigel Farage denies saying anything racist ‘with malice’ as he attacks BBC
Nigel Farage has denied saying anything racist “with malice” in his latest attempt to address allegations of abuse made by numerous of his contemporaries at school.The Reform leader declined to call his accusers liars, but lost his cool as he turned his fire on the BBC for questioning him about alleged antisemitic comments.He became increasingly angry as was asked by the BBC about his deputy leader, Richard Tice, saying the testimony of his former classmates was “made-up twaddle” and lies.Tice had earlier been questioned by the BBC’s Emma Barnett, who pressed the politician on Farage’s “relationship with Hitler”, in relation to allegations from a Jewish former classmate that Farage had said to him: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas them.”In response, Farage launched a tirade against the BBC and said he would no longer speak to the broadcaster, calling it “despicable” and “beyond belief”
Nigel Farage urged to sack Reform council leader accused of racism
Nigel Farage has been urged to sack a Reform UK council leader accused of racism over social media posts including one saying a black British lawyer should have “F’d off back to Nigeria”.Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire county council, allegedly called Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, a “narcissistic Pakistani” and said migrants were “intent on colonising the UK, destroying all that has gone before”.In a post attacking the justice secretary, David Lammy, this year, Cooper allegedly wrote: “No foreign national or first generation migrant should be allowed to sit in parliament.”Reform UK said on Wednesday it had launched an urgent internal investigation into the council leader’s “non-disclosure of social media accounts”.Cooper, who has not responded to the allegations, was Reform’s parliamentary candidate for Tamworth in a byelection in 2023 and again in last year’s general election
Crypto investor gives £9m to Reform UK as donations exceed those to Tories
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has received a £9m donation from Christopher Harborne, a leading cryptocurrency investor, as well as £50,000 from the wife of the owner of the Daily Mail.Harborne, who also has interests in defence and aviation fuel, gave the record donation to Reform over the summer in a boost to the party’s finances before its autumn conference.This year Reform became the first political party to accept donations in crypto but the £9m was made in cash rather than digital currency.The size of Harborne’s gift to Reform prompted campaign groups including Spotlight on Corruption and Transparency International to renew calls for a cap on political donations.The donation was revealed in new figures from the Electoral Commission, which showed Reform bringing in millions more than either the Conservatives or Labour
Peer suspended from House of Lords was allegedly paid $1m in ‘corrupt’ deal
A peer suspended by the House of Lords for breaking lobbying rules is now facing claims that he received at least $1m (£760,000) from an allegedly corrupt deal.Lord Evans of Watford, a longtime Labour peer, was found last week by the House of Lords watchdog to have broken its rules four times after undercover reporting by the Guardian, and will be suspended for five months.The peer was caught in a cash-for-access venture offering to introduce undercover reporters to fellow parliamentarians.Now it can be revealed that he is separately facing legal action over payments that he and others received as directors of a UK investment firm that managed assets based in Kazakhstan.Court documents show that Evans and the other directors have been accused by a former executive of “personally enriching themselves” by pocketing millions in alleged illicit payments
Reform deputy leader dismisses claims of Farage’s past racism as new witnesses come forward
Reform UK’s deputy leader has described a celebrated film director and a large and growing group of corroborating witnesses as liars over their allegations of Nigel Farage’s teenage antisemitism and racism.With the bigotry row continuing to dog Reform, whose lead in the national polls has slipped in recent weeks, Richard Tice turned on those who claimed to have been abused and those who say they saw it.In an outspoken intervention, Tice described the testimony of about two dozen people who have spoken to the Guardian about Farage’s racism at Dulwich College as “made-up twaddle”.Among those who have made allegations are Peter Ettedgui, a Bafta- and Emmy-winning director, who is Jewish, and who has said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say “Hitler was right” and “gas them”, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.The Guardian has spoken to eight school contemporaries who have corroborated Ettedgui’s account
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