Nigel Farage has launched a tirade in opposition to the BBC after he was requested about claims he used racist and antisemitic language when he was in school, which he denied.
The Reform UK chief accused the broadcaster of “double standards”, pointing to its previous tv reveals when he claimed the BBC “were very happy to use blackface”.
The outburst comes as he faces continued strain over allegations he made racist and antisemitic feedback whereas a pupil at high non-public college Dulwich Faculty practically 50 years in the past.
Mr Farage was requested by the BBC about an interview his deputy, Richard Tice, gave on Thursday, by which he claimed these accusing his boss of racism had been partaking in “made-up twaddle”.
The Reform chief stated the framing of the query by the BBC interviewer had been “despicable”.
“I think to frame a question around the leader of Reform’s ‘relationship with Hitler’, which is how she framed it, was despicable, disgusting beyond belief,” he stated.
“The double requirements and hypocrisy of the BBC are completely astonishing.
“At the time I was alleged to have made these remarks, one of your most popular weekly shows was ‘The Black and White Minstrels’. The BBC were very happy to use blackface.”
He added: “I can not put up with the double requirements on the BBC about what I am alleged to have stated 49 years in the past, and what you had been placing out on mainstream content material.
“So I want an apology from the BBC for virtually everything you did during the 1970s and 80s.”
Picture:
Reform UK chief Nigel Farage. Pic: PA
Turning to the substance of the allegations, Mr Farage learn out a letter that he stated was from somebody who he went to high school with.
He quotes the unnamed Jewish pupil as saying: “While there was plenty of macho, tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter, it was humour. And yes, sometimes it was offensive […] but never with malice.
“I by no means heard him racially abuse anybody. If he had, he would have been reported and punished. He wasn’t.”
Mr Farage went on to quote the unnamed former school mate as saying claims from former pupils reported by the Guardian and BBC were “with out proof, aside from belatedly politically-dubious recollections from practically half a century in the past”.
He said the former pupil who had written to him had described the culture in the 1970s and at Dulwich College as “very completely different”, and “plenty of boys stated issues they’d remorse as we speak”.
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Mr Farage has been under pressure since mid-November when reports from former classmates of alleged racist comments surfaced. The Guardian claims it has spoken to 20 former classmates who recall such language.
Challenged in an interview on 24 November if the claims were true, Mr Farage said: “No, that is 49 years in the past by the best way, 49 years in the past. Have I ever tried to take it out on any particular person on the idea of the place they’re from? No.”
He added: “I might by no means, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting manner. It is 49 years in the past. It is 49 years in the past. I had simply entered my teenagers. Can I bear in mind the whole lot that occurred in school? No, I can not. Have I ever been a part of an extremist organisation or engaged in direct, disagreeable, private abuse, real abuse, on that foundation? No.”
Challenged again about whether he had racially abused anyone, Farage responded: “No, not with intent.”
A Conservative spokesman said Mr Farage was too busy defending himself to “defend democracy” from election postponements announced by Labour.
“Nigel Farage simply referred to as a press convention and used it to rant at journalists over historic allegations of racism and antisemitism – allegations he has simply admitted are true.
“Farage is too busy furiously defending himself to defend democracy from the Labour Party’s elections delays.
“Reform’s one-man band is in chaos as soon as once more.”
Labour Celebration chair Anna Turley stated: “Nigel Farage can’t get his story straight. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to say whether he racially abused people in the past.
“Thus far, he is claimed he cannot bear in mind, that it isn’t true, that he by no means ‘straight’ abused anybody, that he was liable for ‘offensive banter’, and deflected by saying different folks had been racist too.
“Instead of shamelessly demanding apologies from others, Nigel Farage should be apologising to the victims of his alleged appalling remarks.”
She added that Reform UK was “simply not fit for high office”.
