According to a bombshell MRP mega-poll from Electoral Calculus, Reform UK is on course to win 445 seats at the next general election. This would leave Labour squabbling over a mere 73, and the Tories reduced to a rump of 7. While both the main parties appear powerless to reverse their cataclysmic descent to rock bottom, perhaps something could be done to pull on Farage’s coattails? Conveniently, something has turned up. Not anything Farage has said or done during his three decades in politics, you understand, but something he’s alleged to have said as a schoolboy at Dulwich College; an exclusive public school in south-east London.
The hit piece in The Guardian includes claims that during his time at the College (1975–82) Farage habitually performed the Nazi salute, told Jewish pupils “Hitler was right”, and referred to other boys as “pakis” and “wogs”. The accusations are not new, having first seen the light of day in 2013 when Farage was the leader of UKIP. Similar accusations were also made by the founder of UKIP, Alan Sked, who claimed that back in 1997 Farage wanted ex-National Front candidates to run for the party, and commented: “There’s no need to worry about the nigger vote. The nig-nogs will never vote for us.”
Let me say from the outset that I am perfectly willing to believe these allegations are largely if not entirely true. For a start, there are too many unconnected but corroborating historical accounts of this behaviour for it to be purely malicious or falsely remembered. A teacher’s letter from 1981, for instance, begging the master of the college to reconsider Farage’s appointment as a prefect because of his “publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views”, is no concoction of Starmer and Badenoch – not unless they have mastered time travel in spite of their general ineptitude. In addition, I attended Dulwich myself (1990–97) and can confirm this is precisely the sort of schoolboy ‘wit’ you encounter in a 400-year-old all-boys school; where, bereft of the company of girls, boys are wont to ‘out-wanker’ one another. I myself certainly heard worse than that during my time, and may even have uttered something similar – no doubt if I ever hit the big time, former ‘Old Boys’ will be kind enough to remind me!
Let me also say, however, that I don’t care if they are true – hear me out before you start organising the lynch mob. Firstly, as a free speech absolutist, I’m much more concerned with actions than words. And on that basis, precious few of our recent Prime Ministers would escape the charge of youthful indiscretion. Nor would many of our leaders escape censure as adults, either. Boris Johnson is on record as having conspired with his friend Darius Guppy to have News of the World journalist, Stuart Collier, beaten up. Rishi Sunak’s former aides mysteriously predicted and successfully gambled on the date of the forthcoming general election – what were the odds?! Even Keir Starmer himself is “as guilty as anyone I know” over grooming gang failures, according to whistleblower Maggie Oliver. Playground insults seem less important on this scale.
Then, there’s the question of age itself. If Shamima Begum at 15 was too young to realise that running off to chop heads for ISIS was a bad career move (as so many Labour MPs have claimed), why isn’t ‘our Nige’ given the benefit of the doubt two years her junior?
And while we’re going after inveterate antisemites, I suspect we have bigger fish to fry than 13-year-old schoolboys. Antisemitism, to all intents and purposes, is now the default setting for many British institutions. The BBC, for instance, has been accused of ‘gaslighting’ Jewish staff over antisemitism complaints. BBC headlines are ‘three times as likely to vilify Israel over Hamas’. And the BBC is perfectly happy to employ journalists who call for Jews to be “burned just like Hitler did”. The Guardian itself is not much better, with cartoonists Martin Rowson and Steve Bell reprimanded and sacked for antisemitic artistry.
Not only is antisemitism currently at a record high in Britain (no prizes for guessing why that might be), but half of British Jews have apparently considered leaving the country during the last two years.
Farage, the man, however, has historically been a strong supporter of Israel. As he often asserts himself, no one has done more to defeat the far-right in Britain; a campaign in which I suspect he may have gone too far, denying Tommy Robinson membership of Reform UK.
For the sake of argument, however, let’s assume that Farage is ‘literally Hitler’ – where does that leave him as a prospective British Prime Minister? Well, for a start, it would make him the establishment’s preferred candidate. It’s not just the BBC and The Guardian – the Labour Party itself still has a considerable antisemitism problem, as does academia, the NUS, the NHS, education, the arts and policing. Moreover, were Farage a fully paid-up Judeophobe, he’d be welcomed with open arms by much of the Left; fighting for his share of the pro-Palestine, Jezbollah, and Green Party vote. Be careful what you wish for, comrades!
Whether or not these establishment smears against Farage are true, is arguably the least important thing about them. It shows desperation on behalf of those raking up old ground, however understandable that might be. But the simple fact of the matter is, none of this is going to land for Farage’s opponents. The nation is not interested in Farage’s past – they’re far more concerned about his future, specifically his ability to effect genuine change once installed as Prime Minister.
That, and only that, I suspect, is how history will remember him.
Frank Haviland is the author of Banalysis: The Lie Destroying the West and The Frank Report, which you should probably subscribe to.
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Anyone who expects schoolchildren to behave as ‘polite society’ rather than the utter little tribal barbarians they can be (BOTH SEXES BTW) are delusional twerps who either never read or never understood the allegory behind Lord Of The Flies.
Any society which can make up the rules to suit their purposes as they go along will inevitably descend into totalitarianism. Does today’s government look familiar?
Well said, Michael!
And Frank’s article is a huge breath of fresh air. For years, the focus on criminalising speech has bothered me a lot. Instead of the police arresting people for illegal actions, they have long been more focused on what people say, rather than what they do. To the point where, a friend of mine, a retired store detective, tells me that he would be out of work these days: shoplifting is not something that catches the attention of the police, so why would a Company pay someone to catch thieves? Seems that, if we want to avoid the attention of the police, the only thing we need to do is stay off Twitter.
Frank makes his every point brilliantly but this one especially is a prize:
“… Then, there’s the question of age itself. If Shamima Begum at 15 was too young to realise that running off to chop heads for ISIS was a bad career move (as so many Labour MPs have claimed), why isn’t ‘our Nige’ given the benefit of the doubt two years her junior?”
Spot on. It’s clearly the fear factor which has brought about the desperate establishment search to get whatever “dirt” they can dig up on Farage. It won’t work – and, deep down, they probably know it.
Well said Frank about time someone took the arseholes at the Guardian on they permanently spout leftist shit.