Andrew Field recalls how his school in south London used to hand out a little blue book listing all the students enrolled that year. He says one boy used to go through the book to count how many children had the common English surname Smith, and how many had the Indian surname Patel.
“When there were more Patels than Smiths… he made a public ceremony of burning that school roll in protest,” Field told CNN.
That former student — remembered by Field as a “pompous, isolated loner” who enjoyed “strutting about” in school uniform — grew up to become arguably the most influential politician in Britain this century: right-wing populist Nigel Farage. After leaving a career trading commodities in London’s financial district, Farage became a long-serving Member of the European Parliament before campaigning successfully for Britain’s exit from the European Union. But today’s 61-year-old Farage, now leader of the anti-immigrant Reform UK party, has set his sights on something bigger: If an election were held tomorrow, most polls suggest that he would stand a good chance of becoming the country’s next prime minister.
One incident sticks in Field’s mind. When he was made a prefect – a senior student trusted to enforce school rules and act as a role model to others – he said that Farage, already a prefect, took it on himself to show Field how to make use of his new powers.
He guided me to lower school, where the younger children played, and he put an Indian child in detention completely at random. There was no reason whatsoever for him doing that,” Field said. “I was deeply shocked by that.”
Unlike Field, who was two years younger than Farage, Peter Ettedgui, now an award-winning film director, was in the same class as him from the ages of 13 to 14. He said they sat in alphabetical order, meaning the future politician was never far away.
“As soon as he found out I was Jewish – that was it,” Ettedgui told CNN. “He would say, ‘Hitler was right,’ in a sneering, contemptuous way. In other words, ‘You shouldn’t be here.’” Farage would also say “gas them,” Ettedgui said, sometimes adding a long hiss to emulate the sound of a gas
Racism allegations could derail right-wing populist Nigel Farage’s bid to become Britain’s next PM
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, pictured in London in October, has been accused of deeply offensive, racist and antisemitic behavior throughout his teenage years at school.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, …
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Andrew Field recalls how his school in south London used to hand out a little blue book listing all the students enrolled that year. He says one boy used to go through the book to count how many children had the common English surname Smith, and how many had the Indian surname Patel.
“When there were more Patels than Smiths… he made a public ceremony of burning that school roll in protest,” Field told CNN.
That former student — remembered by Field as a “pompous, isolated loner” who enjoyed “strutting about” in school uniform — grew up to become arguably the most influential politician in Britain this century: right-wing populist Nigel Farage. After leaving a career trading commodities in London’s financial district, Farage became a long-serving Member of the European Parliament before campaigning successfully for Britain’s exit from the European Union. But today’s 61-year-old Farage, now leader of the anti-immigrant Reform UK party, has set his sights on something bigger: If an election were held tomorrow, most polls suggest that he would stand a good chance of becoming the country’s next prime minister.
Field is among some 20 of Farage’s contemporaries at the elite Dulwich College who have recently and publicly accused him of deeply offensive, racist and antisemitic behavior throughout his teenage years in the 1970s and 1980s. Farage has denied the allegations, first reported on the record and at this scale by the Guardian newspaper last month.
But as more former students make fresh accusations, the scandal is threatening to stick to the typically Teflon-coated Farage. Analysts say the allegations pose the biggest challenge yet to Reform’s bid to convince Britain that it is not just a protest-vote party, but one responsible enough to govern a multi-ethnic nation of around 70 million people.
Field, a doctor with Britain’s National Health Service, is not convinced. Farage’s “burning the scroll” ritual is one of several alleged racist instances he recalls. He said he often saw Farage giving Nazi salutes and goose-stepping, adding, “those were really common sights.” A nine-year-old boy – the only Black child in his year – was “recurrently picked on” by the much older Farage, Field claimed, “who would go to him and say, ‘Africa is that way. Why don’t you f**k off there?’”
Nigel Farage attended the elite Dulwich College in south London in the 1970s and 1980s.
Nigel Farage attended the elite Dulwich College in south London in the 1970s and 1980s. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
One incident sticks in Field’s mind. When he was made a prefect – a senior student trusted to enforce school rules and act as a role model to others – he said that Farage, already a prefect, took it on himself to show Field how to make use of his new powers.
“He guided me to lower school, where the younger children played, and he put an Indian child in detention completely at random. There was no reason whatsoever for him doing that,” Field said. “I was deeply shocked by that.”
Unlike Field, who was two years younger than Farage, Peter Ettedgui, now an award-winning film director, was in the same class as him from the ages of 13 to 14. He said they sat in alphabetical order, meaning the future politician was never far away.
“As soon as he found out I was Jewish – that was it,” Ettedgui told CNN. “He would say, ‘Hitler was right,’ in a sneering, contemptuous way. In other words, ‘You shouldn’t be here.’” Farage would also say “gas them,” Ettedgui said, sometimes adding a long hiss to emulate the sound of a gas chamber.
Peter Ettedgui, pictured at the 68th BFI London Film Festival in 2024, said Nigel Farage would make antisemitic comments when they were at school together.
Peter Ettedgui, pictured at the 68th BFI London Film Festival in 2024, said Nigel Farage would make antisemitic comments when they were at school together.
Farage has previously denied the allegations from Field, Ettedgui, and others first reported in the Guardian. In a statement to CNN, Farage said: “I can categorically say that the stories being told about me from 50 years ago are not true.” He said the Guardian “wants to smear anybody who talks about the immigration issue.”
Claims of this kind were first made about Farage more than a decade ago. In 2013, the journalist Michael Crick reportedly uncovered a letter from an English teacher at Dulwich College, where annual fees today can reach around $85,000, opposing a decision in 1981 to make the 17-years-old Farage a prefect, on the grounds of his “publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views.”
At the time, Farage admitted saying “some ridiculous things… not necessarily racist things – it depends how you define it.” In response to the latest allegations, the usually forthright and forceful Farage was at first uncharacteristically evasive, offering a cocktail of heavily caveated denials.
“Have I ever tried to take it out on any individual on the basis of where they’re from? No,” Farage said last month in a broadcast interview in response to the new claims. Asked what his comments meant, he told ITV he had never abused anyone “with intent,” nor “directly really tried to go and hurt anybody.” He said the claims related to a period “49 years ago,” when he had “just entered” his teens. In the later statement, Farage categorically denied the allegations against him.
If some thought Farage was being evasive, many of his contemporaries say he is simply lying. Field said Farage’s racism was at its “most florid” when he was aged 17 and 18 and had been made a prefect – not just when he was in his early teens. “It’s when he had a little bit of power, and he was picking on much younger children,” Field said.
