Why Farage’s teenage racism matters

Over the past few weeks there has been a series of revelations by people who were at school with Nigel Farage who was a pupil at Dulwich College, the prestigious private school in south London, between 1975 and 1982. The behaviours included persistent racial harassment of both Black and Jewish boys and putting a younger boy in detention while a prefect purely because of the colour of his skin. It had previously been reported that staff differed over whether to make him a prefect because of his clearly expressed racist attitudes, although the objections were overruled. The revelations have been met with contempt by Farage’s supporters, pointing to his young age, calling them pathetic and a sign that his opponents are scared but have nothing on Farage except accusations of childhood misdemeanours. If this were almost any other politician, they might be right, but it isn’t.

Farage was a prefect. Prefects at private schools are powerful; they are allowed to not only tell other pupils what to do, but also dish out punishments, a privilege rightly reserved for teachers in most state schools. At the petty private school I briefly attended in south London in the late 80s, we were told that prefects have “all the power of any of the masters (teachers)”. In not too distant times, prefects were allowed to beat younger children (at my later school, they were a law unto themselves and would punch, kick or beat up younger children in full view of staff). What these revelations show is that the last time Farage, who is tipped to be prime minister in three and a half years’ time, had power over other human beings, he used it to bully and humiliate them. Farage was also 18 at the time of at least some of these incidents. That’s an adult. I’ve written about the bullies at my school, including prefects, on this blog on many occasions in the past, but I’ve not named any of them (with one exception, a convicted sex offender) because they were kids, it was more than 30 years ago, and none of them is on the cusp of attaining any power. If they were, and all the signs showed that they had not changed a bit, I certainly would be naming them.

The other reason this matters is because of the sort of politician Farage is now. I listen to him rarely (never, if I can avoid it) but I did hear his performance on the 2015 general election hustings when he was leader of UKIP. On every single issue, he tried to divert it onto immigration. One issue after another, which after the second or third such incident elicited groans from the audience and finally, when the issue was AIDS, clear disgust and anger. Farage’s supporters also blame ‘immigrants’ (which include non-white British citizens) and immigration for everything, stereotype them as drug pushers and child rapists, call for people they consider to be immigrants or “not really British” to be deported at the drop of a hat, and make excuses for racist violence such as seen on the streets after the Southport murders. Always quick to point to white victims and sympathise with white anger; if it manifests in violence, it must be the victims’ fault, or some immigrant’s fault, never their own. This is the movement that threatens to take power in the UK (on the back of a small plurality of the vote, it must be emphasised) three years next May, if current trends continue.

If this was a politician who was now known for an anti-racist stance, or who at least was not known for racism or scapegoating or any other destructive or bullying behaviour as a teen or adult, not one known for casual racism at the pub or for making everything about immigration, I would agree that this was a smear campaign by his opponents, but if it was a Labour politician being ‘exposed’ in this way, the same people defending Farage now would be eagerly repeating the smears. What these revelations demonstrate is that Farage’s prejudices are lifelong, and that the likelihood of his becoming prime minister makes them, and him, a real danger.