Farage: trouble ahead, trouble behind. BBC *does* hold the front page
There are two issues facing Nigel Farage that just won’t go away.
Firstly there is the question of racist and anti-Semitic remarks when he was at Dulwich College in the 1970s. The BBC has a report on this on its front news page (25th November)
Nigel Farage’s racism denials are dishonest, says ex-classmate – BBC News
Perusing social media I find (of course) those who say it doesn’t matter. Some of the allegations were previously in a Michael Crick biography (but not all). The core support for Reform will applaud Farage for the comments even though he says he didn’t make them. But support for Reform goes wider than a ‘core’ and amongst this group will be those who are uncomfortable about being associated with racism. Anyone who has campaigned against racism on the doorsteps down the years will be familiar with this. People who may have sympathy with Farage but are not in his fan club.
Then there is the issue about links with Russia. Starmer pressed in the Commons on this on 25th November. Farage as often was not there. Starmer of course was raising the issue of which side Farage is actually on over Ukraine. You don’t need to support Starmer’s position on this to see that the jailing of Nathan Gill makes this awkward for Farage.
Farage in an interview with ITV and at a meeting in Llandudno on Monday evening reacted to a range of issues that in particular the Guardian has reported.
On reports that Farage used racist and anti-Semitic language to fellow students when he was at Dulwich College he has claimed that it was 49 years ago so he can’t remember BUT he can remember that whatever he may have said was not ‘intended’ to hurt people. Some of those on the receiving end of the comments have a different view. Farage is not apologising
When it comes to former UKIP MEP and Reform leader in Wales Nathan Gill, jailed for ten and half years for taking Russian bribes Farage says no one else was taking bribes. But he declined to investigate claiming this is a matter for MI5. He also claimed Gill was a minor figure in Reform in Wales. In reality he was briefly the leader in 2021 and stepped down because he failed to win a seat in the Senedd election held that year. Did he remain a Reform member? Farage is not saying.
Never apologise, never explain is the name of the game. So far
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