'Go back home': now 34 ex-pupils accuse Farage of racist behaviour

Thirty-four school contemporaries of Nigel Farage have now come forward to claim they saw him behave in a racist or antisemitic manner, raising fresh questions over the Reform leader's evolving denials.

- Exclusive Henry Dyer Daniel Boffey Mark Blacklock

One of those with new allegations is Jason Meredith, who was three years below Farage at Dulwich college, a private school in southeast London. He claims that Farage called him a “paki” and would use taunts such as “go back home”.

Meredith, 58, who is of Anglo-Indian heritage and works as a product manager in Switzerland, told the Guardian: “What really irked me was the denial of being racist.

“The word ‘paki’ was bandied by him - by Farage - there was kind of an entourage, if I remember right, hangers on. The taunts is something I remember, the word ‘paki’, ‘go back home’ being used, certainly more than once. Simple taunts like ‘Jason is a paki’. I was 15, 16, something like that.”

Meredith is one of several contemporaries to have alleged to the Guardian they were victims of targeted abuse by Farage, who has come under pressure from politicians in various parties to “own up” and apologise. So far, he has refused.

In a series of legal letters and subsequent interviews his position seemingly shifted from outright denial to claiming he had only engaged in “banter” that was not malicious or directed with intent.

On Wednesday, when questioned by an ITV News journalist, Farage went further than in previous denials, saying: “I don’t apologise for things that are complete made-up fantasies. Some of what I heard was just absolute nonsense by people with very obvious, if you looked, political motivation.”

Later on Wednesday, Farage told Times Radio that he acknowledged “aggressive banter”, but said claims that he had told one schoolmate to “go back to Africa” and made gas hissing noises at a Jewish pupil were “complete fantasy land”.

It is a characterisation rejected by those who say they witnessed or were victims of his alleged bullying at Dulwich college. Most of the 34 have spoken to the Guardian on the record, with many saying they felt compelled to do so out of anger at the way Farage had handled the situation.