On November 21, 2025, British politics was jolted by a row that cut to the heart of questions about racism, leadership, and accountability. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, en route to the G20 summit in South Africa, publicly condemned Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, as “spineless” over a series of explosive allegations about racist and antisemitic behavior during Farage’s school years. The accusations, which first surfaced in The Guardian, have quickly become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over the character and conduct of public figures—especially those with aspirations to the highest offices in the land.
The allegations against Farage are both detailed and damning. According to The Guardian, over a dozen contemporaries from Dulwich College, the elite south London school Farage attended as a teenager, have come forward to recount incidents of what they describe as deeply offensive and abusive behavior. Among the most serious claims: Farage allegedly sang a song called “gas 'em all” that referenced the killing of Jewish, Black, and South-East Asian people, and repeatedly directed antisemitic slurs at classmates. Peter Ettedgui, now a BAFTA and Emmy-winning director, told The Guardian that, as a 13- and 14-year-old, he was verbally abused by Farage, who 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.”
Other former pupils have echoed these accounts, describing a pattern of targeting minority ethnic children for bullying and abuse. One former student, who says he was just nine when Farage was 17, recalled, “As someone bullied by a person towering over you height-wise and being racially aggressive, it would never be forgotten. Being singled out in the lower-school playground just because you look different will never be forgotten. People can forget many things but not an empty helpless feeling of fear, I assure you.”
Jean-Pierre Lihou, who claims to have witnessed Farage abusing Ettedgui and was once a friend of Farage’s, insisted, “It is not one person’s word against another, there is a lot of people who have similar recollections. Is he saying that everyone has simultaneously made this up?” Lihou’s comments were echoed by Tim France, another former pupil, who said, “Firstly it’s not ‘one person’s word against another’, it’s, what, 12 people’s words against one? Secondly, when Michael Crick interviewed Farage back in 2013 he gave an entirely different response. He used the ‘we all say stupid things when we’re young’ defence. So which response is the real one: ‘we all said stupid things’ or ‘it didn’t happen’ and we’re all ‘fake news’? I think that inconsistency is the interesting thing now.”
Farage, now 61 and a central figure in British right-wing politics, has strenuously denied all the allegations. His spokesperson dismissed the claims as “entirely without foundation” and described them as “one person’s word against another,” arguing that “if things like this happened a very, very long time ago, you can’t necessarily recollect what happened.” The Reform party further criticized the lack of contemporaneous records or corroborating evidence, suggesting the accusations were based on “disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.”
Yet the controversy has only intensified, with critics pointing to what they see as a pattern of avoidance and denial. Starmer, in particular, seized on Farage’s response, saying, “He needs to explain the comments, or alleged comments that were made, and he needs to do that as soon as possible. He hasn’t got a good track record in relation to this because Sarah Pochin, his MP, made some clearly racist comments and Nigel Farage has done absolutely nothing about it.” Starmer continued, “The man is spineless. If that had been someone in my party, I’d have dealt with it straight away. He needs to explain the latest allegations, and whilst he’s at it, he needs to explain why he’s too spineless to take action in relation to what is obvious racism in the comments of his fellow MP. So far he’s said absolutely nothing about it. He’s got plenty to say on lots of things, apart from showing some leadership when it comes to racism.”
The reference to Sarah Pochin, Reform’s MP who was elected in a May by-election, is no accident. In October 2025, Pochin sparked outrage by saying on TalkTV, “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people. It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is … not represented any more.” While Pochin quickly apologized, calling her remarks “phrased poorly” and expressing regret for any offense caused, Starmer argued that Farage’s failure to discipline her was further evidence of a troubling pattern. “He’s got plenty of things to say about plenty of things, apart from showing some leadership when it comes to racism,” Starmer said, adding, “If that had been someone in my party, I’d have dealt with it straightaway.”
Farage, for his part, has pushed back hard against the prime minister’s attacks. “For the weakest prime minister in living memory to call me spineless is utterly ludicrous,” he said, according to The Independent. “The voters will have their say on both of us at the ballot box next May.” A Reform source went further, accusing Starmer of being “desperate, sinking in the polls and lashing out.” Farage himself has threatened legal action over the allegations, and his party has maintained that the claims are politically motivated and unsupported by hard evidence.
The public spat has drawn in other voices as well. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, writing in The Independent, condemned Pochin’s remarks as “normalising” racism and warned that such rhetoric marked a return to “flagrant racism.” Lammy added that many people were “disgusted” by the remarks, and he criticized those “who would have us believe that we are more divided than we really are.”
The accusations against Farage are not limited to words alone. According to The Guardian, it is also alleged that Farage, while serving as a prefect, put another pupil in detention because of their skin color. Other contemporaries have described incidents such as burning a school roll in a year when there were more Patels than Smiths, and regularly performing the Nazi “Sieg heil” salute. One former member of the school’s combined cadet force claimed to have heard Farage sing a song about gassing Jewish people, stating, “My memory is very clear. You don’t get 12 witnesses to comment on something and then claim it could have been concocted.”
Despite the mounting pressure, Farage has so far refused to address the allegations personally, relying instead on party spokespeople and blanket denials. Critics, including former classmates, have labeled this approach “cowardly” and said it undermines his credibility as a potential prime ministerial candidate. “It is cowardly of him to hide behind a spokesperson. Is it because there is nothing he can say?” asked Jean-Pierre Lihou. Another former pupil suggested that a better strategy would have been to admit to youthful mistakes and demonstrate growth, saying, “It shows a lack of moral courage.”
As the controversy continues to swirl, the stakes are high for both Farage and Starmer. With a general election looming in May 2026, the outcome of this debate could have significant ramifications for the future of Reform UK and the broader political landscape. For now, the country watches as both leaders trade barbs and accusations, each hoping to convince voters that they are the ones capable of leading Britain through its most pressing challenges.
