Farage’s racism

[CuriousKangaroo]

I haven’t yet seen a post about this story: Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays? | Nigel Farage | The Guardian

Farage no longer categorically denies these incidents, and is now trying to fudge things by saying he didn’t mean any harm and it was a long time ago - presumably because he knows it is true and realises that 20 separate people saying it means only the truly deluded wouldn’t believe he was a racist.

But what I am interested in is does this actually assist his election chances? We already know that many of his supporters are racists - does it actually work for him that this blatant racism from him shores up their support? Are they secretly (or perhaps not so secretly in some cases) pleased?

And what do those of you who are Reform supporters but believe yourself not be racist think? Does it make you change your mind about him or Reform?

Just like Reform's reply to that letter 'but.....' and no attempt to take responsibility for Farage’s appalling behaviour as a schoolboy.

It's everyone else's fault that he said "Hitler was right" and bullied a 9 year old black kid when he was 17...

Poor Nigel is the real victim in all of this.

I wonder if they'll even be a Con party by 2029? the rate of defections is off the scale!
The chances are, come 2029, Reform and Tory party will be as one, in an official pact.
So whether you vote Tory or not, you will be effectively voting Reform.

Maybe. But there would be strong resistance from the One Nation Tories, who definitely wouldn’t want to be linked with Reform. If these voices of resistance were ignored, there would be defections to the Lib Dems, or some of them might form their own centre right party.

There are very few One Nation Tories left in the party, most left or were forced out by Johnson.
Think Major, Heseltine, Stewart, Grieves....

Politicians crave power, if they think they can get it by joining another party, many will do so.

Badenoch has failed to improve the parties popularity, still on 17 or 18%, remarkable considering the unpopularity of Labour.

Why would an aspirant one-nation Tory type (which is, after all the backbone of the nation) look at the current tory party and say "That's my tribe" ?

Ultimately, in a metaphor that pleases greatly if you know your history (which excludes any current Tory or Reformista) they tried to cross a gorge in two leaps.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas ..

Point taken, but I have heard a couple of centre right Tories being interviewed. They are very opposed to linking with Reform and, with there being very few Tory MPs overall anyway, they can’t really afford to lose more.

They should also be wary of losing their more moderate supporters to the Lib Dems, a lot of previously Tory supporters voted that way at the last General Election. (As well as to Labour, those voters are very unlikely to vote that way again, but they won’t vote Reform!)

Again, students of history (so excluding headbangers) will know that the Tories split once before - where do you think the Liberal party came from ? (And why Churchill switched parties)

For those that can remember (and who can stomach it) the bonhomie between Cameron and Clegg was borne of a deep shared history.

I believe a certain Jonathan Gulis (ex Tory MP) also said he would ever ever join Reform.

Its possible we could see the break up of the Tory party or certainly enough to make it a non starter for any chance of Govt.

The same could apply to Labour, though its more likely to be a change of leader and a change in policies.

I know, I’ve studied that, too. They were the Whigs and the Tories in those days, way back in the reign of Charles II.

And yes, there is a long history between these two parties. It’s why unhappy Tory MPs and voters have tended to defect to the Lib Dems rather than Labour. (Although curiously, the Lib Dems are now further to the left than Labour in many ways.)

By not calling out Farage's racism, the door for a merger remains open.

I suppose the new name could be the "Reform and Unionist" party.... a play on their merger with the Liberal Unionists in 1912.

Are there even any One Nation Tories left? Johnson sacked most of them.

Not nearly as many as there used to be, granted, but there are some. I’ve heard interviews with a couple of them, and yes, they have said there must never be a pact with Reform. There are likely enough of them to create a bitter row within the party. And defections.

But the Tories will also lose a lot of votes if they do a pact with Reform, and there will be anxiety about this among the more right wing MPs as well, who will worry about losing their seats.

They aren’t in positions of influence though.

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/12/18/raise-the-colours-flags-campaign-nigel-farage-migrants-aid-workers-on-french-beaches/

Nigel Farage-Backed ‘Raise the Colours’ Campaign Pivots to Racially Abusing Migrants and Harassing Aid Workers on French Beaches

The campaign, which coordinated the raising of British and English flags across the country, was praised by Reform leader NigelFarage as “extraordinary”, suggesting in the Sun newspaper that it was a “patriotic… grassroots movement driven by ordinary people”.

He is not 17 anymore, will he comment?

True, but there are still enough of them around to cause ructions. They only have around 130 MPs now, so losing any is damaging. The last thing they can afford is more infighting within the party.

In addition, there’s a lot of hostility between a lot of the Tories and Farage, it wouldn’t make a comfortable coalition. He’s a known racist, as are a lot of Reform party members, and more moderate Tory voters won’t want to vote for a party that’s openly racist.

The problem is that those Tories (at least on MN) are staying very quiet.

A few relics of the pre-Johnson party will influence nothing when there are people like Badenoch and Jenrick at the top.

Ok, time will tell.

The investigation into political funding (reporting in March 2026) has also been asked to look into political party constitutions. It may well be Reform cannot be classed as a political party, which would be interesting.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/dec/28/of-course-he-abused-pupils-ex-dulwich-teacher-speaks-out-about-farage-racism-claims

I thought this article by the former teacher was excellent- all the better and more convincing because she doesn’t seem to have any particular political agenda. Just honest and fair. My conclusion is that racism and fascism are baked in to Farage’s DNA.

'Deakin, now 74, does not recall who had told her that Farage had sung Hitler Youth songs, for which no evidence has subsequently emerged...'

'She was not personally acquainted with Farage and did not see or hear his alleged racism and antisemitism, she said.'

I have read the article Clav, any reason why you highlighted those specific sentences?

Actually, I found her latest claims a little unconvincing. She claims now that she originally heard complaints about Farage from other boys, rather than from her colleagues (as originally reported);

“I remember it was either in a particular English lesson or a particular form period that his name came up,” said Chloë Deakin, then a young English teacher, of a discussion with a class of 11- and 12-year-olds. “There was something about bullying, and he was being referred to, quite specifically, as a bully. And I thought: ‘Who is this boy?’” ...

However, if you read the very lengthy letter she wrote to the Dulwich headmaster in 1981 (available online) she makes no mention of these younger boys and their concerns - instead she relies on tales she has heard from colleagues in the Common Room. I find this a very odd omission from her original letter.

Also, she now recalls something said to her by the headmaster which I think she has misunderstood;

(... I recall Emms, expressing appreciation for something I had done, saying "Thank you Chloë, that's very white of you." I remember feeling puzzled, never having heard this expression before. Many years later I realised, with distaste, what it meant.)

I think the head was being sarcastic here rather than expressing appreciation - whatever she had done was nothing special and unremarkable.