\n<\/p>\n
Nigel Farage has again denied allegations of racism as a schoolboy and repeated his claim that some had been concocted because people disliked his politics.<\/p>\n
During a press conference, he snapped at one reporter who asked about the issue, saying: \u201cI think we\u2019ve gone quite a long way towards answering all this, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Farage, who prides himself on answering numerous questions at press conferences, took 10 this time, but did not include any from the Guardian.<\/p>\n
So what did he say \u2013 and is it true?<\/p>\n
The claim: <\/strong>Farage said the director Peter Ettedgui is the \u201cone person that said I directly abused him\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cOne person says they were hurt, and if they feel they were hurt, then I\u2019m genuinely sorry. But I never, ever, ever would have said or done anything like that directly to a human being. Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n Analysis: <\/strong>Ettedgui is actually one of several contemporaries from minority ethnic backgrounds to claim Farage abused them when they were at school.<\/p>\n Ettedgui, a Jewish student, has said: \u201c[Farage] would sidle up to me and growl, \u2018Hitler was right\u2019 or \u2018gas them\u2019, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers.\u201d<\/p>\n Cyrus Oshidar has said Farage repeatedly called him a \u201cPaki\u201d.<\/p>\n Another former pupil told the Guardian he was also directly targeted by Farage.<\/p>\n \u201c[Farage] walked up to a pupil, flanked by two similarly tall mates, and spoke to anyone looking \u2018different\u2019. That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying, \u2018That\u2019s the way back\u2019 to wherever you replied you were from.\u201d<\/p>\n The claim: <\/strong>Farage suggested the allegation he abused Ettedgui had only come from Ettedgui himself.<\/p>\n Analysis: <\/strong>This is wrong.<\/p>\n Seven other contemporaries have come forward to say they saw Farage abusing Ettedgui with antisemitic language.<\/p>\n Stefan Benarroch said: \u201c[Ettedgui] was such a gentle soul and Farage \u2013 Farage made his life a fucking nightmare \u2026 They could only identify us, because we had to go to this stupid Jewish service in the science labs school. I mean, none of us were remotely religious. They would hang out there. Farage would hang out with his minions. And then they would taunt us as we would leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Rickard Berg said: \u201cHe definitely had a go at Peter and there were a couple of others he would also have a go at \u2026 He was nasty, there was no question. [The song] Gas \u2019em all, I heard him singing it to Ettedgui. I didn\u2019t get it at the time, because Peter didn\u2019t react. Back in the day, you thought it was for him to react.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony Butler said: \u201cI clearly recall him relentlessly hectoring and bullying Ettedgui with shouts of \u2018stupid yid\u2019 in the playground.\u201d Butler offered an apology to Ettedgui.<\/p>\n Jean-Pierre Lihou said: \u201c[Farage] used to say things like, you know, \u2018Jude\u2019, to Peter, which is the German for Jew, in the way it was said in the 1930s, a long \u2018u\u2019 in a menacing way, you know? It\u2019s pretty awful.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob Jope, a former teacher, said: \u201cI think he [Farage] said \u2018Shut up you Jew\u2019 to Peter Ettedgui.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin Rosell said: \u201c[Farage] certainly made comments to the Jewish guy in that class, Peter Ettedgui \u2026 Comments like, under his breath, sort of \u2018Jew\u2019 \u2026 and comments about how they \u2018missed you\u2019, that sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you have something to share about this story, you can contact Henry using one of the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019.<\/p>\n To send a message to Henry Dyer please choose the \u2018UK Investigations\u2019 team.<\/p>\n Email (not secure)<\/strong><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t need a high level of security or confidentiality you can email henry.dyer@theguardian.com.<\/p>\n SecureDrop and other secure methods<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/p>\n Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Rich Cousins<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n The claim:<\/strong> Farage has suggested that some of the more than 20 people who have made claims about his behaviour in school did so for political reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cLook at what they say. None of them say, I directly attack them or abuse them,\u201d Farage said. \u201cWhat they do say, they do say, very clearly, is they have different political views to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Analysis: <\/strong>The overwhelming majority of the contemporaries that the Guardian has spoken to are not active in party politics.<\/p>\n Some disagree with him, and dislike Reform, but they say they came forward because of his denials about his past behaviour \u2013 and their expectation that he should show some contrition.<\/p>\n One of those who spoke out, Martin Rosell, is the chair of the Liberal Democrats in Salisbury. Farage was told this by the Guardian prior to publication. His account is supported by others.<\/p>\n Farage has cited the example of Roger Gough, a former Conservative leader of Kent county council.<\/p>\n But Gough was not among the individuals who claimed they had either been victims of, or witnesses to, racist and antisemitic behaviour by Farage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigel Farage has again denied allegations of racism as a schoolboy and repeated his claim that some had been concocted because people disliked his politics. During a press conference, he snapped at one reporter who asked about the issue, saying: \u201cI think we\u2019ve gone quite a long way towards answering all this, don\u2019t you?\u201d Farage,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[3361,3287,19990,3132,3131,124,2962,2485],"class_list":{"0":"post-35494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-allegations","9":"tag-claim","10":"tag-dislike","11":"tag-farage","12":"tag-nigel","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-racism","15":"tag-response"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact Henry Dyer about this story<\/h4>\n