Keir Starmer has urged Nigel Farage to publicly explain himself after the Reform UK leader issued a blanket denial of multiple detailed allegations of racist behaviour during his school years.
Speaking during prime minister’s questions, Starmer referenced reports, which contains accounts from more than a dozen of Farage’s former classmates.
Responding to Reform MP Lee Anderson, the prime minister criticised Farage’s repeated refusal to condemn racist comments by members of his party. “I wonder if we could ask his leader next door whether he’s got time for an explanation for the stories in today’s papers,” Starmer said.
The remarks follow concerns raised by Lord Walney, the former Labour MP John Woodcock and an adviser on political extremism to recent Conservative governments.
Walney said the testimonies shared with the media will appear credible and warned that Farage’s denial would trouble many people.
Former classmates accused Farage of directing racist abuse at minority-ethnic pupils at Dulwich College, singing a “Gas ’em all” song referring to killing Jewish, Black and south-east Asian people, and burning a school roll in a year that reportedly had “more Patels than Smiths”.
Farage has rejected all allegations as entirely without foundation. A Reform spokesperson described them as an attempt to smear the party’s leader.
Walney cautioned that while offensive teenage behaviour should not define a person’s adult character, the issue was Farage’s insistence that he never expressed racist views, despite public claims from former classmates who say they were targeted.
“This suggests a man not at ease with his past – a troubling characteristic for someone seeking to govern the country,” he said.
The allegations were also described as disturbing by MPs across parties. Joani Reid, chair of the all-party parliamentary group against antisemitism, said the reports would alarm Britain’s Jewish community amid rising antisemitism.
Labour chair Anna Turley said Farage must urgently explain himself, while Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson argued Farage had made a career from offensive rhetoric. Hope Not Hate campaign director Georgina Laming said the revelations were no surprise, citing Farage’s long record of anti-immigrant statements.