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Nigel Farage's racism denials are dishonest, says ex-classmate (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by frankPodmore@slrpnk.net to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

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Peter Ettedgui said Farage, now aged 61, had repeatedly told him "Hitler was right" and "gas them" when they were teenagers at Dulwich College, in London.

"One of the most vivid memories of my school life is Farage repeatedly coming up to me and, knowing that I was Jewish, saying Hitler was right and 'gas 'em', and that was frequently followed by a 'sssss', you know, kind of imitating the sound of escaping gas."

The BBC has spoken to two former pupils who say they remember Farage personally targeting Peter Ettedgui.

Jean-Pierre Lihou said: "I remember him specifically talking about 'do go home, Hitler was right', singing 'Gas Them All' and all of these absolutely antisemitic comments directed straight at Peter."

Another former pupil, Martin Rosell, who is now chair of the Liberal Democrats in Salisbury, also corroborated the antisemitism claims, claiming Farage used to "mutter something like 'Jew' under his breath" when Mr Ettedgui answered a question in class.

Even the people defending him acknowledge the stories are at least partly true:

Some former Dulwich College pupils say they do not recognise the picture that has been painted of Farage or the allegations of racism against him [...] Patrick Neylan, who was in the year below Farage at Dulwich College, told the BBC there was some singing of songs that he would not be proud of now.

Always the ones you least suspect, eh?

EDIT: Missed the original source for this, which is in the Guardian.

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[–] FishFace@piefed.social 10 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I'm sure most people here would have a lower threshold than me to condemn someone for their childhood behaviour, but this seems well beyond my threshold, too. You've got:

multiple sources
describing very similar patterns of behaviour
going back many years
a man who can't bring himself to deny the claims fully - except then, a day later, changes his wording
a man who while he generally doesn't make overtly racist comments espouses policies which are nevertheless congruent with a racist outlook.

There just isn't any way it's not both true and forming a part of his current beliefs. Anyone you can find 20 people with matching accounts of seriously nasty bullying behaviour for was almost certainly a bully. Such a person who is then not able to identify what was described as such as someone who is still a bully.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 months ago

Yes, exactly. If it turned out that, e.g., Ed Davey was a bit of a dick when he was 14, we'd all say: 'Yeah, obviously. He was 14.' But it's your second and fifth points that make this especially salient: Farage's childhood nasty racist comments fit perfectly with the adulthood nasty racist policies. He hasn't changed, he just expresses it differently!

[–] tankplanker@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hes walking a tight rope with his denials as he cant completely deny being a racist* as that undermines the fundamental plank to many of Reforms policies, but he cant be linked to being openly racist as that puts off the quiet racists who are quite happy with his policies as long as he doesn't get caught using slurs as that risks them being ostracized by society.

*The truth or providing actual evidence of claims has never been anything that has bothered either Farage or Reform, see their bullshit council savings numbers just this week.

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes I did wonder if that "I never 'directly' abused anyone" was supposed to deliberately allow the dyed-in-the-wool racists to believe one thing and the more moderate supporters to believe another. I didn't hear enough interviews though to know whether he was properly challenged on it.

[–] tankplanker@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

When is he ever properly challenged by the media? Same problem with Boris before his fall

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago

I heard some interview excerpts where the interview called him out for trying to weasel out, but I don't know if they were in the minority or if the overall interviews were like that or lenient. So yeah, it happens but not enough (generally)