\n<\/p>\n
It was 1981 and Nigel Farage was turning 17. He was already a figure of some controversy, as would become a lifelong habit, among the younger pupils and staff at Dulwich college in south-east London.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember it was either in a particular English lesson or a particular form period that his name came up,\u201d said Chlo\u00eb Deakin, then a young English teacher, of a discussion with a class of 11- and 12-year-olds. \u201cThere was something about bullying, and he was being referred to, quite specifically, as a bully. And I thought: \u2018Who is this boy?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Deakin conferred with colleagues in the staff room who corroborated accounts of harassment of fellow pupils and of Farage\u2019s apparent fascination with the far right, including claims that he had been \u201cgoose-stepping\u201d on combined cadet force marches.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut initially I had heard it from boys,\u201d she said. \u201cI was shocked to hear that this Dulwich boy was apparently getting away with this kind of behaviour, at cadet camp etc, and I thought: \u2018This is seriously out of order. It\u2019s horrible.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the chatter in the playground and staffroom, Farage was put on a draft list of prefects by the headteacher, David Emms, and his deputy, Terry Walsh. There was a meeting where strong views were aired, though Emms and Walsh were of the opinion that Farage was naughty, rather than being a malevolent racist.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when I heard that Farage\u2019s name was on the finalised prefect list, I was appalled and that was why I wrote independently to Emms, because I felt strongly about it \u2013 I still do,\u201d Deakin recalled.<\/p>\n
<\/span>A Dulwich college magazine, the Alleynian, shows members of the combined cadet force including a boy believed to be Nigel Farage seated on the ground (centre, reaching towards his feet).<\/span> Photograph: Martin Godwin\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Deakin\u2019s letter of June 1981, first revealed by the Channel 4 journalist Michael Crick in a report in 2013, is uncompromising. She has never spoken before of this episode with the letter \u2013 written after Farage\u2019s 17th birthday \u2013 emerging only as a result of her having given a copy of it to a senior teacher at the time, as was the practice at the school.<\/p>\n She wrote: \u201cYou will recall that at the recent and lengthy meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was a \u2018fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect\u2019 invoked considerable reaction from members of the [staff] common room.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set that he had to be removed from his lesson \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cYet another colleague described how, at a [combined cadet force] camp organised by the college, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler Youth songs; and when it was suggested by a master that boys who expressed such views \u2018don\u2019t really mean them\u2019, the college chaplain himself commented that, on the contrary, in his experience views of that kind expressed by boys of that age are deep-seated and are meant.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter concluded: \u201cYou will appreciate that I regard this as a very serious matter. I have often heard you tell our senior boys that they are the nation\u2019s future leaders. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that these leaders are enlightened and compassionate.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>The Guardian has spoken to more than 30 contemporaries of Farage at Dulwich college who have given testimony of receiving or witnessing racist or antisemitic abuse from him.<\/span> Photograph: Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Fresh and detailed allegations about Farage\u2019s teenage past, contained in a series of reports by the Guardian in recent weeks, have caused what has been described as the greatest crisis in the Reform leader\u2019s political career, in large part because of the way he has responded.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s lawyer initially wholly denied any racist or antisemitic behaviour, and threatened to sue the Guardian. Farage then conceded in an interview with the BBC\u2019s political editor in Wales that some things said in \u201cbanter\u201d more than four decades ago might be construed differently today, but denied targeting anyone \u201cdirectly\u201d or with \u201cintent\u201d to hurt.<\/p>\n The Guardian has now spoken to more than 30 school contemporaries of Farage who have given testimony of being on the wrong end of racist or antisemitic abuse or witnessing it at the school.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s behaviour is said to have continued from age 13 to 18, after which he went on to a career in the City. But despite loud calls for a show of contrition and understanding of the hurt he is alleged to have inflicted, including through an open letter from 26 of his school contemporaries, he is yet to apologise.<\/p>\n Deakin, now 74, does not recall who had told her that Farage had sung Hitler Youth songs, for which no evidence has subsequently emerged, although the Guardian has heard testimony that he was involved in singing songs about gassing Jews and other minority ethnic people.<\/p>\n She was not personally acquainted with Farage and did not see or hear his alleged racism and antisemitism, she said. But her memories of boys\u2019 complaints of bullying, the subsequent testimony of the staff, the contemporaneous letter \u2013 written by her decades before Farage gained public prominence \u2013 and the sheer weight of credible allegations in recent weeks should leave no room for doubt for the public, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course Farage directly abused pupils,\u201d Deakin said. \u201cHis was the only name I recall boys mentioning to me.\u201d<\/p>\n For all her efforts at the time, her protests to the headteacher did not dissuade him from making Farage a prefect. It was part of the reason why she decided to leave the school, later becoming a civil servant in the Department for Education, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cEmms [the headteacher] called me in: he was quite a forbidding figure for me as a young teacher,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he was very pleasant and polite, but nothing came of it; he had made his decision. Soon after that I started thinking, I don\u2019t want to stay here. This is not the place where I\u2019m going to make my future.\u201d<\/p>\n In Crick\u2019s broadcast in 2013, the deputy headteacher, Walsh, suggested Deakin might have been among a \u201cleftist\u201d group in the teachers\u2019 common room. Farage has claimed that those making accusations were doing so as part of a political plot to undermine him.<\/p>\n Deakin said: \u201cI was not then and never have been a member of a political party \u2013 indeed I have, over the years, voted differently in local and in general elections. Nor, of course, did any of us anticipate that Farage would subsequently become a politician: at that time he appeared to be focused on a City career.<\/p>\n \u201cMy motive in writing to Emms was neither political nor anti-college but was, rather, driven by my disgust at the accounts I had heard of Farage\u2019s racist and neo-fascist views and behaviours: that he was a bully, that his rightwing views were extreme, that he revelled in the fact that his initials were the same as those of the National Front, that he imitated neo-Nazi singing and marching, etc.<\/p>\n \u201cI had previously taught in a large, culturally diverse comprehensive school in Brent, with many Jewish colleagues and other staff of colour. It would have been unthinkable for such behaviours to have been tolerated there, or to have gone unpunished.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those who have spoken of their disappointment in recent weeks at Farage\u2019s approach to the claims have been 11 Holocaust survivors who have been concerned by attempts to dismiss Farage\u2019s behaviour as banter.<\/p>\n Deakin said she had been similarly appalled by what she believed was a lack of a regard for telling the truth.<\/p>\n <\/span>Nigel Farage is yet to apologise for his behaviour during his schooldays. <\/span> Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cOf course it is absolutely normal for teenagers and students to debate hotly about politics, religion and other significant issues,\u201d she said. \u201cBut Farage\u2019s extremist views and behaviours appeared to be singular and to go well beyond any normal discussion of party politics, freedom of speech, or even teenage \u2018high jinks\u2019 \u2026 Farage\u2019s unwillingness to offer a straightforward apology to those men affected by his past behaviours is also both puzzling and concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n Reform did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Once upon a time \u2013 in June 1981 \u2013 I wrote a letter to the then <\/em>master of Dulwich College, David Emms, about a teenage pupil named Nigel Farage.<\/em><\/p>\n My letter followed a heated meeting between Emms and my Common Room [teaching staff] colleagues, during which a number of us had objected to Emms\u2019 inclusion of Farage in a list of nominations for new prefects.<\/em><\/p>\n I was a young English teacher, in my late twenties, at the time. I neither taught Farage nor knew him personally, but I had been hearing about him from colleagues and from boys I taught.<\/em><\/p>\n In his book about Farage, Michael Crick quotes Emms describing Farage, retrospectively, as having been a <\/em>\u201cnaughty boy<\/em>\u201d who had <\/em>\u201cgot up the noses<\/em>\u201d of staff because of his <\/em>\u201cchirpiness and cheekiness<\/em>\u201d. But in 1981 we had taken a more serious view of Farage\u2019s reputation and behaviour, arguing that it was inappropriate for him to be rewarded and that he was not a suitable role model for other pupils. I was therefore dismayed when I learnt that Emms intended to override the meeting and proceed with Farage\u2019s appointment.<\/em><\/p>\n I wrote a personal letter to Emms, setting out in detail why I disagreed. We had a cordial meeting to discuss the matter, but he would not be swayed from his decision. Farage\u2019s appointment went ahead and I imagined that my letter had been consigned to Emms\u2019 waste paper basket.<\/em><\/p>\n Regarding my motivation for writing the letter, it was not the case (as suggested by a past <\/em>deputy <\/em>master, Terry Walsh in Channel 4\u2019s programme in 2013) that I objected to Farage\u2019s appointment because I was part of some Common Room <\/em>\u201cleftist<\/em>\u201d element. I was not then and never have been a member of a political party (indeed I have, over the years, voted differently in local and in <\/em>general <\/em>elections). Nor, of course, did any of us anticipate that Farage would subsequently become a politician: at that time he appeared to be focused on a City career.<\/em><\/p>\n Nor was it the case (as suggested by a former colleague, the Rev Neil Fairlamb [in the Guardian]), that my letter was <\/em>\u201cmotivated largely<\/em>\u201d by my <\/em>\u201cdislike of the college\u2019s culture<\/em>\u201d. (Fairlamb also described Farage as <\/em>\u201ccheeky and charming and you could never quite believe him\u201d.<\/em>)<\/em><\/p>\n Dulwich College offered wonderful facilities and opportunities to its pupils (in painful contrast to my previous school) including, at that time, many boys still on the <\/em>assisted <\/em>places scheme, whose families would not otherwise have been able to afford to educate them there.<\/em><\/p>\n I participated fully in College life and enjoyed teaching such lively, intelligent and talented pupils, whom I remember with affection. (There were touching moments too: the boys were unused to women staff \u2013 three of the four of us were recently appointed \u2013 and I was occasionally asked out by senior boys, unsure of our status; while younger boys, when raising their hands in class, often called me <\/em>\u201cSir<\/em>\u201d or occasionally <\/em>\u201cMum<\/em>\u201d instead of <\/em>\u201cMiss<\/em>\u201d, to the great amusement of their peers.)<\/em><\/p>\n There was a house system for sports and other competitions; a form system, which dealt mainly with administrative procedures; and a sanatorium, for physical health issues: but there was neither a pastoral system nor counselling support available to pupils, such as those in private and public sector schools today. So it is perhaps unsurprising that pupils \u2013 the majority of whom were day boys \u2013 would have kept their problems to themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n My motive in writing to Emms was neither political nor anti-College but was, rather, driven by my disgust at the accounts I had heard of Farage\u2019s racist and neo-fascist views and behaviours: that he was a bully; that his right<\/em>wing views were extreme; that he revelled in the fact that his initials were the same as those of the National Front; that he imitated neo-Nazi singing and marching, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n I had previously taught in a large, culturally-diverse comprehensive school in Brent, with many Jewish colleagues and other staff of colour. It would have been unthinkable for such behaviours to have been tolerated there, or to have gone unpunished.<\/em><\/p>\n Of course it is absolutely normal for teenagers and students to debate hotly about politics, religion and other significant issues: but Farage\u2019s extremist views and behaviours appeared to be singular and to go well beyond any normal discussion of party politics, freedom of speech, or even teenage <\/em>\u201chigh jinks<\/em>\u201d. So it concerned and disillusioned me that Emms, Walsh \u2013 and some other members of the Common Room \u2013 seemed to take an indulgent and, I thought, somewhat na<\/em>ive attitude towards Farage\u2019s reputation. (No doubt this was a sign of the times: I recall Emms, expressing appreciation for something I had done, saying <\/em>\u201cThank you Chlo\u00eb, that\u2019s very white of you.<\/em>\u201d I remember feeling puzzled, never having heard this expression before. Many years <\/em>later I realised, with distaste, what it meant.)<\/em><\/p>\n Soon afterwards I decided to leave the College, to pursue my career in the public sector. Over time, I forgot about the letter and must have destroyed my own copy at some point: so I was surprised when Michael Crick contacted me in 2013, having seen a copy of it, asking me to participate in Channel 4\u2019s programme about Farage. (At first I did not recall the letter, until I saw the redacted version online and remembered my feelings about the original sequence of events.) However, my work role at that time prohibited me from commenting on, or engaging in, political debate, so I had to decline. The main thrust of criticism of Farage in that programme focused again on his generalised racist and neo-fascist views and behaviours.<\/em><\/p>\n So I was distressed to read in recent weeks accounts by many former pupils \u2013 now middle-aged men \u2013 of Farage\u2019s targeted racist and anti<\/em>semitic bullying of individuals, both before and after he was appointed a prefect. It seemed that Farage\u2019s behaviour was much worse than I had been aware in 1981. Multiple, consistent accounts described him generally acting alone, singling out and pursuing specific pupils repeatedly, solely because they were Jews, or because of their skin colour.<\/em><\/p>\n [The Reform deputy leader] Richard Tice has referred to these accounts as <\/em>\u201cmade-up twaddle<\/em>\u201d. Farage himself has offered various explanations of events, including that whatever he might have said at the time was merely <\/em>\u201cbanter<\/em>\u201d. There have also been allegations of an orchestrated intention to <\/em>\u201csmear<\/em>\u201d the Reform party, because of its elevated position in recent polls.<\/em><\/p>\n I write this letter, as I wrote my original letter to Emms, of my own free will. I have not been approached by the Guardian, nor by any former Dulwich pupil, to support their points of view. I am not receiving any payment for it. I write it simply because, in the light of having worked for nearly fifty years in education and mental health, I regard these pupils\u2019 accounts to be painfully authentic and sadly consistent with Farage\u2019s previously recorded views and behaviours whilst a pupil at Dulwich College.<\/em><\/p>\n I agree with the many online comments by people unconnected with the College confirming that, across the years, you never forget the names, faces, words or actions of individuals who have bullied you.<\/em><\/p>\n Anyone who has worked with people who have been deliberately targeted and demeaned \u2013 by bullying or assault, for instance \u2013 knows that the legacies of such experiences are shame and secrecy (the shame that belongs to the perpetrator is felt by the victim).<\/em><\/p>\n It has taken time and courage for these men to speak out \u2013 courage which has, however, been met with derision and dismissal by Farage, Reform and some media commentators, who have described Farage\u2019s words as playground <\/em>\u201cbanter<\/em>\u201d and former pupils\u2019 words as politically-motivated <\/em>\u201csmears<\/em>\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n The word <\/em>\u201cbanter<\/em>\u201d generally carries the sense of a playful, teasing or good-humoured exchange: but there was nothing playful, teasing, good-humoured<\/em> nor reciprocal, about Farage\u2019s attacks, as reported by former pupils who suffered them.<\/em><\/p>\n Similarly, the word <\/em>\u201csmear<\/em>\u201d carries the sense of a false accusation or slander, intended to harm a reputation: but there was nothing false about the reports relating to Farage that I recorded in 1981. Recent reports are consistent with those.<\/em><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Farage himself has claimed (BBC, 24<\/em> November 2025) that he <\/em>\u201cnever directly racially abused anybody \u2026 by taking it out on an individual on the basis of who they are or what they are<\/em>\u201d and that he would <\/em>\u201cnever, ever do it [ie use racial abuse] in a hurtful or insulting way<\/em>\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n His statement is inconsistent with the multiple accounts of his targeted behaviour; and I am at a loss to understand how racial abuse could be used in any way that was not hurtful or insulting. (In the same interview, Farage also cited free speech \u2013 <\/em>\u201cSometimes you say things that people don\u2019t like<\/em>\u201d \u2013 as a defence. <\/em>\u201cFree speech<\/em>\u201d seems to have become, for some, a justification for saying anything to, or about, anyone.)<\/em><\/p>\n But where does all that leave us now? Does any of it matter? Some commentators argue that Farage\u2019s schooldays are irrelevant now: that reports about them were unfounded, or too long ago, or that we should be focusing on larger, current, pressing issues.<\/em><\/p>\n But there seems to be a curious link between Farage\u2019s obsessive teenage preoccupation with targeting, demeaning and frightening only those fellow pupils who were identifiable in ways that accorded with his far-right views \u2013 ie by their Jewishness or their skin colour (not, for example, ginger hair or lack of sports prowess) \u2013 and how this has burgeoned into his adult preoccupation with immigration\/deportation as the main plank of his political campaign.<\/em><\/p>\n Farage\u2019s unwillingness to offer a straightforward apology to those men affected by his past behaviours is also both puzzling and concerning. The <\/em>prime <\/em>minister, the <\/em>attorney <\/em>general, a group of Holocaust <\/em>survivors and now, a group of former Dulwich pupils and staff \u2013 to which I add my own name here \u2013 have all called upon him to do so: but there is no evidence to date of any regret or change of view on his part.<\/em><\/p>\n On the basis of recent polls there seems a strong possibility that Reform could win the next <\/em>general election and that Farage would be appointed <\/em>prime <\/em>minister. Anyone engaged in public life is required to adhere to the seven Nolan Principles \u2013 <\/em>selflessness; <\/em>integrity; <\/em>objectivity; <\/em>accountability; <\/em>openness; <\/em>honesty; and <\/em>leadership. We need Farage to demonstrate his active commitment to all these <\/em>principles now, if we are to have any confidence in his future leadership.<\/em><\/p>\n Some commentators have argued that pressing current issues (such as ensuring that Jews and others can live safely in our communities) are more important than the events of Farage\u2019s school days, some forty-odd years ago. Of course current issues do need addressing urgently. But we should also remember that the small seeds of large issues find space to grow and flourish wherever prejudice, discrimination, victimisation and persecution are permitted to go unchallenged. They need rooting out.<\/em><\/p>\n Chlo\u00eb Deakin<\/em><\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using 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’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was 1981 and Nigel Farage was turning 17. He was already a figure of some controversy, as would become a lifelong habit, among the younger pupils and staff at Dulwich college in south-east London. \u201cI remember it was either in a particular English lesson or a particular form period that his name came up,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[7493,1891,21352,3132,3131,583,2962,3081,2680],"class_list":{"0":"post-39339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-abused","9":"tag-claims","10":"tag-exdulwich","11":"tag-farage","12":"tag-nigel","13":"tag-pupils","14":"tag-racism","15":"tag-speaks","16":"tag-teacher"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39339","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=39339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact us about this story<\/h4>\n