People who were at school with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claim he displayed offensive behaviour as a boy, including giving Nazi salutes and making racial slurs.
The Clacton MP, who could potentially be the UK’s next prime minister, as his party leads in opinion polls, emphatically denies allegations in The Guardian that he used racist or antisemitic insults as a teenager.
He suggested that the paper was attempting to smear Reform.
One former contemporary at Dulwich College in south London told The Guardian he felt humiliated by the antisemitic words of a 13-year-old Mr Farage, who allegedly also urged pupils of overseas heritage to “go home”.
Peter Ettedgui, now an award-winning director and producer, told the paper: “He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers.”
He added: “I wasn’t his only target. I’d hear him calling other students ‘p***’ or ‘w**’, and urging them to ‘go home’. I tried to ignore him, but it was humiliating. It was shaming.”
Mr Ettedgui said Mr Farage could suddenly become “charming”, adding: “I’d like to know why he’s never owned up or shown the slightest contrition.”
A second pupil from a minority ethnic background claimed that, when Mr Farage was 17, he asked where the pupil was from and pointed away, saying: “That’s the way back.”
Professor Dave Edmonds, 61, another Jewish ex-pupil, told The Guardian he had a strong memory of Mr Farage using “the w-word for what we now call people of Afro-Caribbean origin and the p-word for those of south Asian origin”.
He added: “I don’t remember being on the receiving end of antisemitic remarks, though of course he made outrageous comments about the war. I don’t think Jews were his main racial preoccupation. He was generally obsessed, as he is now, with the erosion of Britishness.”
But some pupils told The Guardian only that he was bumptious, rude, provocative and enjoyed being the centre of attention, insisting they did not remember him using racist language.
There is no evidence that Mr Farage has ever been a member of far-right organisations, nor is there a suggestion that he holds the views ascribed to him as a boy.
In legal letters to The Guardian, he questioned the public interest in reporting historic allegations.
A Reform UK spokesperson said: “These allegations are entirely without foundation. The Guardian has produced no contemporaneous record or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.
“It is no coincidence that this newspaper seeks to discredit Reform UK, a party that has led in over 150 consecutive opinion polls and whose leader bookmakers now have as the favourite to be the next prime minister.
“We fully expect these cynical attempts to smear Reform and mislead the public to intensify further as we move closer to the next election.”
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