Farage fails to address racism claims: ‘He’s thin-skinned, and it’s getting thinner all the time’

Read time: 4 mins

In brief…

• Nigel Farage says he “never directly racially abused” any classmates while at school, despite around 20 former classmates claiming otherwise.
• The News Agents say his “thin-skinned” response to new questions shows how unprepared he is to take the scrutiny that comes with leading the UK’s current most-popular party in the polls.
• Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall say that a second crisis for Reform UK is waiting in the wings, with rival politicians keen to push the jailing of its Welsh leader on Russian bribery charges into the spotlight.

What’s the story?

When confronted about alleged racist remarks made at school in 2013, Nigel Farage admitted to being a "troublemaker" at school, who "wound people up".

After re-emerging this month, Reform UK issued a firm denial that he had ever made racist comments.

Now, Farage claims he "never directly racially abused" anyone, and has "hope" no one took his comments that way.

Apparently, 20 people did, with former classmates coming forward with details of shocking racist, antisemitic comments made by the hard-right politician while studying at Dulwich College.

They have claimed he made jokes about gassing Jews and praising Hitler – among other incidents.

"I've never directly racially abused anybody. No," Farage told the BBC this week.

Lewis Goodall says Farage’s “odd” response to questions over his school activities are giving “new legs” to the story, rather than bringing any closure.

“Last week, the line was that these people couldn't possibly remember what happened at school, it was too long ago,” says Lewis.

Journalist Michael Crick, who investigated school claims against Farage in 2013, told The News Agents that the stakes for the Reform leader are "far higher" for him now – which could account for his changing tact in dealing with allegations, which date back 50 years.

What have these allegations revealed about Farage?

Reform UK have topped opinion polls throughout 2025, with huge numbers of people across the UK saying they would vote for Farage to become the next Prime Minister if there was an upcoming election.

The News Agents describe him as an “accomplished political performer” and “talented politician”, but say the resurfaced allegations show how poorly he performs under pressure when the spotlight is on him.

“He is a politician who is so much more comfortable being on the offence than on the defence,” says Lewis.

“He's very good at throwing stones, or lobbing hand grenades towards other politicians. He's not very good at receiving them.

“He's quite thin skinned, and has become more thin skinned over time. His way of handling it – which I think could have been relatively straightforward in this case – poses more questions than it answers.”

Jon Sopel says he will need to sharpen up if he has any hope of taking Reform UK’s current lead all the way to Downing Street in 2029.

“Between now and the next election, there is going to be far more scrutiny on Farage than he's ever had before,” Jon says.

“He needs to improve a lot on how he deals with stuff when he's trying to defend his actions.

“He seems to me a bit like the bully who might just have a glass jaw when he gets hit himself.”

Is this criticism a convenient distraction from a bigger problem within Reform?

However tricky it might be for Farage, and Reform UK, to discuss his activities 50 years ago, it may be preferable to nationwide discussion about Russian influence in the party.

On Friday 21 September, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales – Nathan Gill – was jailed for ten and a half years for taking bribes to give pro-Russia statements to the press and European Parliament.

Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf has called Gill “ancient history” for the party, and Farage has ruled out an investigation into any deeper Russian influence within Reform.

“It's obviously something that Reform doesn't want to talk about,” says Lewis.

“It is a very serious thing to have happened, and the fact it happened to a senior party figure in that way, might make you think it's something Reform should take pretty seriously, but Farage is ruling out the investigation.”

But while Farage’s alleged college racism is the big battle facing Reform UK right now, Jon believes its links to Russia will come back and bite the party before the dust settles on its current crisis.

“I know Downing Street wants to talk about Nathan Gill and his activities, what it says about Reform and the relationship with Russia, and the wider implications,” Jon says.

“Nathan Gill may have been sentenced, but I don't think the story – if Farage's opponents have any say in it – is going to go away.”

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.