Starmer calls on Farage to address racism claims

Keir Starmer called on Nigel Farage yesterday to urgently address detailed allegations of racist behaviour during his teenage years as the Reform leader attempted to dismiss the claims as "one person's word against another".

- Daniel Boffey Pippa Crerar Henry Dyer

The pressure was put on Farage by the prime minister over what were said by Downing Street to be “disturbing allegations” after the Guardian reported the testimony of more than a dozen school contemporaries, including an award-winning director who claimed to have been targeted with antisemitic abuse.

In the face of concerns raised by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and a former extremism adviser to the last Conservative government, Farage's spokesperson appeared yesterday to question whether it would be possible to remember events from the 1970s and early 1980s.

"If things like this happened a very, very long time ago, you can't necessarily recollect what happened," the spokesperson claimed.

Speaking in the Commons, in answer to a question by the Reform MP Lee Anderson at prime minister's questions, Starmer said that Farage needed to personally explain himself in the light of the Guardian's reporting.

"Mr Speaker, he [Anderson] talks about dog whistle. Last week his leader said he didn't have time to condemn the racist comments of his fellow MP for Runcorn," the prime minister said with reference to Sarah Pochin's complaint last month about TV adverts being "full of black people, full of Asian people".

Starmer went on: "He also said he didn't have time to condemn his party calling children in care evil. He didn't have time. I wonder if we could ask his leader next door to him whether he's got time for his explanation for the stories in today's papers." The prime minister's spokesperson said: "These are disturbing allegations and it's vital that Nigel Farage urgently explains himself.