Farage apology over school racism allegations does not go far enough, ex-pupil says

A school contemporary of Nigel Farage, who accused him of verbal abuse as a teenager, has told the BBC there are still "urgent questions" for the Reform UK leader to answer, and said his response in a BBC documentary does not go nearly far enough.

Farage told Reform - Ready to Rule? he has not once wondered if he had upset anyone with his behaviour but said "if they genuinely were then that's a pity and I'm sorry, but never, ever did I intend to hurt anybody".

But Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish contemporary at Dulwich College, said the qualified "sorry" was a "nonpology".

Ettedgui is one of more than a dozen former pupils at the London private school between the late 1970s and early 1980s who have claimed they witnessed Farage being racist.

Farage denies he did anything serious but told the documentary: "I tell you what, if teenage boys together in an all-boys school haven't said things to each other, haven't been brutal in some ways in the late 1970s, I'd be very, very surprised."

He has previously specifically denied Ettedgui's allegations. The BBC has previously spoken to two former Dulwich College pupils who have backed up Ettedgui's version of events.

In a statement, Ettedgui told the BBC: "Farage's 'nonpology' today at least differs from previous lamentable attempts to excuse his racist insults as 'banter', or to smear those of us who have spoken up as liars or fantasists."

But he said urgent questions remained for the politician, including why he had "continually denied the repugnant behaviour so many of his schoolmates recall" rather than acknowledging it and "apologising sincerely".

Ettedgui also asked to what extent Farage's political agenda had been shaped by the "racist views he expressed so vociferously at Dulwich".

The statement said 34 people had given first-hand accounts of Farage's "abusive behaviour" at the school and continued: "Every single one of us vividly recalls Farage's racist, xenophobic and antisemitic bullying, as well as his vocal admiration for Fascist leaders from Hitler to Mosley.

"This profoundly offensive conduct continued unabated throughout his teenage years until we left school at 18, and it went far beyond what was considered normal or acceptable – even in the 1970s."

Responding to Ettedgui's allegations on GB News in November, Farage said: "I categorically deny saying those things, to that one individual, and frankly, frankly for the Guardian and the BBC to be going back just shy of half a century to come out with this stuff it shows how desperate they are."

He later demanded the BBC apologise for 1970s TV shows such as It Ain't Half Hot Mum and the The Black and White Minstrel Show, which he said were homophobic and racist.

Reform - Ready to Rule? covers the party's first few months running councils in England, its position on crime and immigration, and hears from voters considering backing them.