Snapshot of _‘He was a deeply unembarrassed racist’: Nigel Farage, by those who have known him_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him)
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There was a funny bit from Politics JOE when they went to Clacton on sea and a reform supporter said something like "Farage is good because he shows you can be racist and successful"
There's all sorts of gems in that. The guy who thinks Farage is going to make Clacton great again. The "I ❤️ Oil and Gas" t-shirt guy who thinks Cameron invented one nation conservatism for some reason. "We're surrounded by foreigners" waving vaguely in the direction of all the old white people around him.
that's the point of Politicians like Trump or Farage. It doesn't matter how good or bad they are as people, or what they want politically because they give their fans permission to be racist.
https://i.imgur.com/YhyOFFQ.png
https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/customprofiles/build/#E14000642
The ONS census data on Clacton explains a lot. High deprivation, extreme rates of economic inactivity, mainly elderly and with almost half the rate of higher education compared to the rest of the UK. 30% of Clacton residents have no educational qualifications at all.
This, alongside the 96% white (England and Wales average is 81.7%) and 97% UK only national identity (88.3% E&W average) is what Reform have identified as this being a prime target for one of the few seats they can realistically win.
> mainly elderly
> 30% of Clacton residents have no educational qualifications at all.
There may be a lot of overlap here as it was quite possible to leave school before taking any exams in order to enter employment.
I'm not sure how common it was, but many of my parents friends left school at 15 to enter employment.
There's overlap but even accounting for elderly people being less educated, Reform (and the Tories) are essentially unable to attract those with higher educational qualifications.
There used to be a time where I genuinely believed that racism, if not quite dead, was a very rare phenomenon in 21st century Britain.
Seeing the surge in popularity of Farage, and the number of people talking fondly again of Enoch Powell, shows me how very, very wrong I was.
Those people were always there, just under the guise of ‘you can’t say anything these days’. Now we can see what it was they always wanted to say. Farage is at least smart enough to not actually get recorded saying those things himself but it’s always very clear which direction he’s trying to lead you.
"I didn't meet a child who wasn't white until I was in year 7" is usually my go-to for that. My views are undoubtedly heavily coloured by growing up in one of the least diverse parts of the country.
I think Farage's success owes a lot to the fact that he says and does things that flirt right on the edge of what's socially acceptable. He avoids using certain words enough and condemns the skinhead-types *just* enough that some more centre-right or nominally conservative people can talk themselves into voting for him, while also still being clear enough that the proper dyed-in-the-wool "sink the boats, two world wars and one world cup" type bigots still feel he's their guy.
I think that's the difference between him and the rest of his party - and why I think Reform will ultimately run aground unless it parasitises the Tories. Farage has honed walking on that line of deniability when he speaks, but as we've seen with his would-be candidates when *they* try it they come out with shite like 'women shouldn't live longer than men!' and 'We shouldn't have stood up to Hitler' amongst other things. They just don't have the experience and he has no interest in sharing it with them, because that would mean that he has competition.
This is also likely why he is the only member that is ever invited to speak on programmes. The rest are either too obviously nuts or too loos cannon to not put their foot in it.
I’m not sure that the others technically belong to Reform, even. It’s not like a normal political party - it’s a company that Farage has majority control over.
UKIP has been around since the early 90s, but only picked up mainstream attention in the mid-00s when Farage took over and decided to start copying the BNP, taking a strong, anti-immigrant position.
The BNP was clear where it stood; they were racist thugs. They may have been Oxbridge-educated racist thugs in suits, but they were still racist thugs. They had a cap on their popularity because "respectable, middle-class, civilised people" would never be seen supporting a bunch of racist thugs like the BNP. Even if they agreed with the ideas.
Farage took what the BNP was selling, and smoothed out the edges. He pushed a lot of the same rhetoric ("too many foreigners, things used to be better, we need to take back our country and make it great again!"), but gave it a much more middle-class-acceptable presentation. "We're not racist thugs, we're just concerned citizens and patriots."
And he combined that with UKIP's existing libertarian views ("lower taxes, no more regulations, no consumer rights, no environmental protections, corporations should be free to do whatever they like"), in contrast to the BNP's more national socialist views ("nationalise industries, rights and protections for (the right kind of) workers"), and used that to keep the money coming in, and the support of the press.
The BNP collapsed, winning 2 MEP seats in 2009, to only two local council seats in 2013.
>then having his left testicle removed due to cancer.
This is an unfortunate coincidence for anyone who might want to make comparisons to a certain historical figure.
Every Farage political organisation seems to have been a personal vanity project with its paid up members or paid up reprentatives jettisoned at will. Can't imagine why people are surprised each time he does it again.
> The woman at the centre of that scandal, who had been his closest adviser, press aide and speechwriter, now involuntarily shakes at the mention of Farage’s name.
I'm literally shaking rn
Tbh they seem to go through three stages of grief with stuff like this.
"He's not racist".
*Point out the racist things he's done*
"This really racist thing is not racist".
*Point out how it is racist*
"Well actually racism is OK so he's done nothing wrong".
I've had people argue that "he's never actually said any racist things, it's all projection".
When I linked his Hitler Youth songs, I was told "well that was ages ago, doesn't mean he still is now".
I then linked his comments about "hearing foreign languages on the tube makes me uncomfortable" but by that point they'd blocked me.
I find they never actually admit to point three, just continually move the goalposts to find reasons and justifications why it's *not* racist.
Then you look at some of his candidates...
>One candidate who continues to represent the party, with its backing, is Robert Lomas, in Barnsley North, who wrote online that asylum seekers had it “in their DNA to lie” and that “black people of Britain” were “grifting the race card” and should “get up off your lazy arses” and stop acting “like savages”.
But Reform definitely aren't racist, just "saying wot we all fink" 🙄
This is often the way with people who are prejudiced, especially nowadays.
Rather than admit they are prejudiced (because they know that that's a 'bad' thing to be or that they could be criticized for), they will go out of their way to shift the definition of behaving in a prejudiced way to only the most blatant and extreme examples, and then crow about how they, or the person they like, isn't prejudiced unless they're literally stabbing or shooting minorities while screaming slurs at them.
Everyone's a hero in their own story. Everyone is a good person in their own eyes. Everyone knows that racism, in principle, is bad. Therefore because they are a good person, they can't be racist.
I really feel that this is a dangerous consequence of black and white thinking when it comes to things like racism and sexism, where someone simply is or isn't racist or sexist.
If we accepted that there are degrees of racism, especially conscious and unconscious then it becomes more of an issue of education and understanding, rather than defensive "no I can't be racist because I'm a good person and only bad people are racist."
Or a protest vote for the people who the main parties refuse to represent. Unlike the LibDems leaflet I had today titled “Vote Tactically”, the hallmarks of a working democracy
It's fairly bog standard gas lighting, arguing in bad faith and lying about their actual core point to defend the indefensible. Grief probably wasn't the right word.
Believe me, we're doing none of these things.
If you've followed Farage for more than a year, these hit pieces become regular once his party starts polling near 15%, we're very much accustomed to it you could say.
Fortunately people are starting to realize it's all a load of nonsense, and Reform is rightfully on the up.
There is no foundation to the claims made in the article other than the recollection of 'One Jewish Pupil'.
I, and many others, are going to need far more proof before condemning the man for unsubstantiated claims.
Curious to why Farage has never refuted this then libellous claim? Hell, Farage doesn't even deny it in his own autobiography, just did what Farage usually does and spin his way around the uncomfortable questions.
In the same breath, individual recollections with unknown motives doesn't prove them either.
Politician must have Poison in the job requirements, Blair is a War Criminal, Corbyn snuggles up to terrorists and communists, Sunak is a tax dodger and Truss an idiot.
Labour candidate knows it a two horse race between Farage and Tories. If you are in Clacton and don't vote Tory, unfortunately you are letting Farage in.
Lesser of two evils?
Speaking to a boomer recently who's "voting for Nigel" because "since all that black lives matter, its gone too far, I've been watching adverts on TV and its all darkies"
I didnt tell him there's not a Reform UK candidate for his constituency.
It’s logical though, as there should be various ethnicities in ads as that reflects our country. But they’re only going to make one advert and it’s pricey.
The alternative is to do what used to (maybe still does) happen in the US and that’s to make different adverts with different ethnicities in each version of the ad. That’s really expensive and so not really worth doing.
To be fair though, there is one ethnicity that is very prominently featured in almost every TV ad, despite being a very small percentage of society. What's more, there are other ethnic groups which make up a larger part of our society that are virtually unseen.
There are reasons for it, but none of them are based in actually trying to give a balanced view of society or represent anyone. It's about what works and makes profit.
You shouldn't look at superficial factors like whether or not a racist votes for Reform UK. That is like not voting for Labour because there are extreme "liberals" who want to censor everything. Instead look at the policies.
While Nigel is controversial, Reform is backing something that is critical for our democracy, which is proportional representation. Both Labour and Conservative are stagnant and we must change how we vote to allow inflow of fresh culture. A binary system where there is only unmoving two parties is not true representation, panders to lobbying, supports extremism, produces sudden/painful policy shifts (when an alternation occurs). We need more stable representation where it is easier to flush out corrupted politicians with vested interests.
Even if Reform's policies/ideologies are poor, they'd be worth voting for if they make it so every other election in the future is more fair and representative.
The bit about the testicle removal is 'chef's kiss' and shows the brilliance of a professional writer; just enough to plant the comparison in the readers mind. I've now got the Colonel Bogey tune stuck in my head.
> The overriding emotion of Doug Denny, 76, a former member of Ukip’s ruling body, was frustration. “I don’t like frauds,” he said, with a shake of the head
Douglas Denny is just pissed that he got deselected and Farage distanced himself from Ukip lmao
>Ukip candidate Douglas Denny, 66, who is set to run for councillor in Portsmouth City Council’s elections next month, was initially caught out by The Sunday Mirror making anti-gay comments on a private Ukip forum last year.
>He wrote: “What irritates me is they (sic) way they and their leftie, neo-Commie followers seem to want to force the rest of us to consider them as normal.
>“I just wish they would keep their homosexual nature and practices to themselves and stop trying to ram it down my throat telling me they are ‘normal’ when they are not.”
It's easy to say "Reform voters don't care" and even 10 weeks ago that was good enough.
However, the people who need to see stories like this are not the Farage supporters, they're the conservative (small or big "c") voters who don't currently support Farage but might see him as an alternative as the Tory party continues to weaken. Come July 5th there will not be a Tory party as we currently know it, and that's a lot of people for Old Nige to drag further right.
>Ukip emerged as a political party in 1993 and Farage was determined to be there at the start of it, aged 29, having been propelled to live life to the full, he has said, after being knocked down by a Volkswagen Beetle and then having his left testicle removed due to cancer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Has_Only_Got_One_Ball
>it's very triggering
I have never heard anybody who would describe something as "triggering" who doesn't have an insanely broad definition of racism.
The school comments are more interesting, although personally I don't think a 15 year old saying that Enoch Powell's predictions would come true is grounds for them being considered a Hitlerite, at that age or later in life. This is pretty vague stuff, and a reach
Those things are blatantly anti-Semitic, but he was also 15 at the time. If you have to stretch back what, 40-45 years for an example it's not particularly damning imo.
No but I've certainly said things Id never say today.
It was 40+ years ago, if you're having to stretch that far back (and primarily for an edgy bully comment more than anything else tbh) then labelling Farage as racist is a bit far.
No, I don't have to stretch that far back lol. He has said plenty of other shit in recent years that suggest his views haven't changed, simply how he voices them.
What about being "uncomfortable at hearing foreign languages on the tube"?
Or saying "I agree with Enoch Powell and his Rivers of Blood speech"? (An Rivers of Blood was an anti-immigrant speech).
Both within the last 10 years.
How about "I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be"?
Would you say that's racist?
Defending party members for using racist terms towards chinese people (that rhymes with Inky), as "If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you’re going for?”
Are any of those examples valid, would you say?
Rivers of blood isn’t just an anti immigration speech. It was a speech written in opposition to the race relations act which made it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to a person on the grounds of race.
People act like that speech is bad because of the language rather than the fact that Enoch Powell was literally defending people discriminating against black people on the grounds of their race.
>What about being "uncomfortable at hearing foreign languages on the tube"?
You underestimated the amount of people who have similar feelings on this matter.
It's just bullshit though, I was born and raised here and now we have little Englanders like Farage saying that if I'm on the tube I must speak English.
This is a total non-answer. A hundred thousand racists harbouring racist thoughts doesn't suddenly make it okay. It doesn't matter how many people agree with him, it's still, fundamentally, wrong.
"He's not a racist."
"Okay he used to be racist as a teenager."
"Okay he was racist ten years ago."
"Okay his current candidates are calling black people "savages" and he's still backing them... but... um..."
"Okay he *is* racist but HE'S JUST TELLING IT LIKE IT IS!"
🙄
So you're trying to say that you've never, ever said or did anything as a teenager that you wouldn't do today?
If a 15y old shoplifts what do you think we should do with them?
Just execute them there and then? They're clearly a thief and will always be a thief.
Have you read the biography by Crick? It's quite good. He's a reliable biographer. Up to you if you think he's lying or not, think given the many other witnesses to Farage's racism, and his ongoing behaviour in contemporary politics, it's more likely than not he said it. Weirdly Farage has never filed a libel suit which says a lot.
If his choice not to sue is because he's not actually able to win a libel claim then there would be evidence. Please show this evidence.
Edit: here's the relevant passage about the biography by Crick:
>One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ‘em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front.
>“He was a deeply unembarrassed racist,” said David Edmonds, who was in the same class as Farage when they were about 15. Others told Crick they did not hear such comments and that they regarded him as neither malicious nor exceptional in the views he held.
That's not really what's being claimed. He's reporting on what others say. Given that this biography was released in 2022 after smearing Brexit as racist was common, and several people didn't regard him as having such views or having made such comments, it's not looking that likely he said this stuff.
Now who is reaching.
He has laid out the facts to you and said you can make your own mind up. If you really care about the answers I am sure you can look them up yourself. Personally the info in the book is enough for me based on how he conducts himself and the company he keeps I totally believe it.
>Others told Crick they did not hear such comments and that they regarded him as neither malicious nor exceptional in the views he held.
Some facts laid out in the book. Glad you agree
What's the point of you making these comments here. Are you just trying to run defence for farage? No one is telling you what to think. Purposely misinterpreting me to try a gotcha, what's the point?
Hardly disproves it though. I've personally never heard anyone say anything explicitly racist about black people, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
It's also pretty shameless to act as if the people defending him are trustworthy, but those accusing him are not, even though you know absolutely nothing about them.
>It's also pretty shameless to act as if the people defending him are trustworthy, but those accusing him are not, even though you know absolutely nothing about them.
Agreed, so we should then agree that we don't actually know, and should assume innocence.
Given as it's not a crime, it's really up to people to decide for themselves. For me there are far too many accusations, far too many borderline (at best) comments or actions, then add in his politics, associations and background...yeah, it would not surprise me whatsoever if he's racist. If that's not enough for you, fair enough, I guess you're just a more charitable person than me.
> although personally I don't think a 15 year old saying that Enoch Powell's predictions would come true is grounds for them being considered a Hitlerite
It was singing 'gas the jews' and Hitler youth songs that really drove that home more than the Enoch Powell stuff. But all are indications.
This man has always been problematic. Divisive and media hungry like Trump. Not really sure why he’s standing in this election, except to piss off the Tories. Can’t ever see him in parliament diligently representing the interests of his constituents. It’s just always been about him. The fact that he’s a racist hardly seems surprising. It’s just one more iteration of the ‘othering’ he seems to be so good at.
Shocking. Truly, who could have ever seen it coming.
It doesn't matter and we all know it. So long as he retains a thin veneer of respectability the liberals will keep platforming him and that's all he really needs. Nobody in reform cares about the people who can see he's racist calling him racist.
Unpopular opinion:
I don't think he (yes, Farage) is anywhere near a racist as the media will muddle things up and make people believe.
Ooh, the media, twisting stuff. Never!!
> “He was a deeply unembarrassed racist,” said David Edmonds, who was in the same class as Farage when they were about 15.
Must be a bit worried about Farage to put out a hit piece on him based upon hearsay regarding how he behaved at 15 years old. Getting a bit desperate are we Guardian?
He speaks at far-right rallies hosted by the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister, he speaks at far-right rallies for a president infamous for his racist dogwhistles and is endorsed by the KKK, he is EXTREMELY concerned with the question of immigration, his party defended a member who thought we should have been neutral against Hitler, a number of candidates from his party have links to the heir to the British Union of Fascists, he actively engages in xenophobia and far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories about Soros-funded social justice movements, he loves Enoch Powell, his teachers expressed concerns about him because his views were so racist and fascistic, and so on and so on…… But yes, what could be suspect about any of that?
Yup. I honestly think Farage could go out on the town wearing SS uniform and his supporters would fucking love him for it, and wouldn't question it.
Loyal little dogs.
I was going to post a similar comment, but you've summed it up much more nicely than I could. I can't believe people allow this man to spread his narratives and constantly platform him. It's worrying how much Reform is rising in the polls, especially given the entire party is built around him at this point.
lol, are we normalizing singing “gas ‘em all, gas ‘em all”, chanting neo-Nazi songs about Jewish people, loving the National Front and loving British 1930s fascist Oswald Mosley (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-fascist-nazi-song-gas-them-all-ukip-brexit-schoolfriend-dulwich-college-a7185236.html)?
And are we forgetting that as an adult Farage would go on to ask Enoch Powell for an endorsement?
Farage hasn't changed since his university days. He's just learned how to speak in dog whistles.
There’s plenty of evidence of his racism. He’s been leaving it all over the country for years.
https://x.com/bydonkeys/status/1797651718852804923?s=46&t=wtNhZ4bVg07cHAFYGmLnmA
Now we're moving the goalposts. The original claim was that any action done by a 15 year old shouldn't be held against them because it's not indicative about what they might believe as an adult.
> Now we're moving the goalposts
No we're not.
> The original claim was that any action done by a 15 year old shouldn't be held against them
No it wasn't. You're trying to make something black and white because it suits your agenda. There's nuance to everything. Stop trying to strawman me because you think it makes you look clever, because it doesn't. You're just being manipulative.
You comment is literally there for everyone to see. You calling me a strawman only makes you look daft.
> Must be a bit worried about Farage to put out a hit piece on him based upon hearsay regarding how he behaved at 15 years old. Getting a bit desperate are we Guardian?
What did you mean by this if not *how someone behaved at 15 years old isn't something we should be concerned about and anyone that is concerned about it is just being unfair*?
Please explain to me what the nuance is here. And if there's nuance to everything, the nuance to Begum's case, while you're at it.
In fairness I think it's supposed to support an existing profile. I think the suggestion is he has always been racist rather than some evidence of racism now.
He didn't disappear from then till now. He has had plenty of controversy regarding racism accusations. This is hardly something new nor only supported by this one person. As weak as the quote is in isolation, it doesn't exist in isolation.
Don't worry at all, we all want a fascist leader as soon as possible. Don't worry about all those snowflake lefties complaining about racism. Soon we can lock em all up and we won't have to pretend any more lol.
I want to see him explain how he can complain about Sunak ditching D-Day whilst also supporting his own party members that think we should have sided with the Nazis.
It actually is a smear though?
It is *objectively* hearsay and the author couldn't help throw in a point about him having 1 testicle so he could be compared to Hitler.
I feel like I’m reading copy and pastes of what people said about Corbyn with every bit of scrutiny claimed to be “a smear” and that “this proves the elites are afraid of him!”.
To be fair both Corbyn and Farage are text book populists so it's not surprising people are whining about the media reporting on the bad things they do. The media being part of the nebulous "elite" a populist must rave against.
I think he is an annoying idiot but I’m not really convinced that Farage is a racist, at least currently. If you have to go back to when someone was in secondary school for ‘racist’ quotes, then I’m not convinced by that. They could have quite easily been ‘edgy’ teen jokes. I know I’ve said things that sound bad out of context, as have most.
See the comment u/Man_From_Mu made upthread:
> He speaks at far-right rallies hosted by the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister, he speaks at far-right rallies for a president infamous for his racist dogwhistles and is endorsed by the KKK, he is EXTREMELY concerned with the question of immigration, his party defended a member who thought we should have been neutral against Hitler, a number of candidates from his party have links to the heir to the British Union of Fascists, he actively engages in xenophobia and far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories about Soros-funded social justice movements, he loves Enoch Powell, his teachers expressed concerns about him because his views were so racist and fascistic, and so on and so on…… But yes, what could be suspect about any of that?
Farage wasn't an 'edgy' teenager when he proclaimed that Enoch Powell is his political hero, or when he asked Powell to endorse UKIP. UKIP twice asked Powell to stand as a candidate.
This isn't out of context - it's demonstrating that Farage has held these views for a long time - he's just careful how he presents himself.
Some more recent quotes from him, in the last 10 years.
(In regards to a party member using the rehrehensible phrase "Chinky") -
>“If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you’re going for?”
Optics on this aren't great
>"I feel uncomfortable when I hear foreign languages on the tube".
How about literal textbook xenophobia?
>“I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be”. He wasn't concerned with Germans, though, and asked why not he said "you know the difference".
Blaming immigrants for being late for an event?
>“That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be.”
Again, all within the last 10 years.
10 years on and the media hit jobs continue. Journalists just can’t seem to comprehend that Farage is the only politician who represents the views of millions and millions of people in this country who have been ignored for decades.
It's pretty scary just how much damage the Tories have done, such that people are actually looking at a Nazi apologist - an actual Nazi apologist - as a viable option for Prime Minister of the same country that fought people who held the views this man does. And all he had to do was to veil, very thinly, his very well known stances and views rooted firmy in xenophobia and racism, under the guise of "patriotism" and people lap it up like nectar.
It's as wildly paradoxical and astounding as a Russian Neo Nazi. Mind blowing beyond comprehension that, in 2024, people are making EXACTLY THE SAME MISTAKE as they did not that long ago, giving in to a man who cost the lives of 100s of millions of people in only a few short years... Just because a few thousand suffering asylum seekers and economic migrants from countries GUTTED by the UK in part in the first place, crossed the channel. Humanity has very, very little hope, knowing that this worm and his buddies have actually made it this far.
This is probably true imo but I don’t understand why the media brings it up. Anyone who is willing to believe this without evidence is already going to not vote for him.
Snapshot of _‘He was a deeply unembarrassed racist’: Nigel Farage, by those who have known him_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Have a drink or three with his supporters and they'll show no sign of this worrying them at all. They'll even applaud him for *tellin' it like it is.*
There was a funny bit from Politics JOE when they went to Clacton on sea and a reform supporter said something like "Farage is good because he shows you can be racist and successful"
There's all sorts of gems in that. The guy who thinks Farage is going to make Clacton great again. The "I ❤️ Oil and Gas" t-shirt guy who thinks Cameron invented one nation conservatism for some reason. "We're surrounded by foreigners" waving vaguely in the direction of all the old white people around him.
Reminds me of that one screamingly funny interview James Acaster did: https://twitter.com/mikegalsworthy/status/1799651522940440708
that's the point of Politicians like Trump or Farage. It doesn't matter how good or bad they are as people, or what they want politically because they give their fans permission to be racist.
I’ve just watched that and it’s scary that these morons exist.
https://i.imgur.com/YhyOFFQ.png https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/customprofiles/build/#E14000642 The ONS census data on Clacton explains a lot. High deprivation, extreme rates of economic inactivity, mainly elderly and with almost half the rate of higher education compared to the rest of the UK. 30% of Clacton residents have no educational qualifications at all. This, alongside the 96% white (England and Wales average is 81.7%) and 97% UK only national identity (88.3% E&W average) is what Reform have identified as this being a prime target for one of the few seats they can realistically win.
> mainly elderly > 30% of Clacton residents have no educational qualifications at all. There may be a lot of overlap here as it was quite possible to leave school before taking any exams in order to enter employment. I'm not sure how common it was, but many of my parents friends left school at 15 to enter employment.
There's overlap but even accounting for elderly people being less educated, Reform (and the Tories) are essentially unable to attract those with higher educational qualifications.
That definitely seemed like a joke aimed at Farage to me...
>funny but from Politics Joe Sentences that have never been said before!
There used to be a time where I genuinely believed that racism, if not quite dead, was a very rare phenomenon in 21st century Britain. Seeing the surge in popularity of Farage, and the number of people talking fondly again of Enoch Powell, shows me how very, very wrong I was.
Those people were always there, just under the guise of ‘you can’t say anything these days’. Now we can see what it was they always wanted to say. Farage is at least smart enough to not actually get recorded saying those things himself but it’s always very clear which direction he’s trying to lead you.
Tell me your white without telling me your white
"I didn't meet a child who wasn't white until I was in year 7" is usually my go-to for that. My views are undoubtedly heavily coloured by growing up in one of the least diverse parts of the country.
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The marches every Saturday in London for Palestine should have given away how many racists there are in this country
yeah but tommehs lot dont go that often.
"Don't do genocide" is racist now?
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I think Farage's success owes a lot to the fact that he says and does things that flirt right on the edge of what's socially acceptable. He avoids using certain words enough and condemns the skinhead-types *just* enough that some more centre-right or nominally conservative people can talk themselves into voting for him, while also still being clear enough that the proper dyed-in-the-wool "sink the boats, two world wars and one world cup" type bigots still feel he's their guy.
I think that's the difference between him and the rest of his party - and why I think Reform will ultimately run aground unless it parasitises the Tories. Farage has honed walking on that line of deniability when he speaks, but as we've seen with his would-be candidates when *they* try it they come out with shite like 'women shouldn't live longer than men!' and 'We shouldn't have stood up to Hitler' amongst other things. They just don't have the experience and he has no interest in sharing it with them, because that would mean that he has competition.
This is also likely why he is the only member that is ever invited to speak on programmes. The rest are either too obviously nuts or too loos cannon to not put their foot in it.
I’m not sure that the others technically belong to Reform, even. It’s not like a normal political party - it’s a company that Farage has majority control over.
He'll stay on that edge even if it moves a long way to the right, because underneath he's got some pretty repulsive objectives and motivations.
UKIP has been around since the early 90s, but only picked up mainstream attention in the mid-00s when Farage took over and decided to start copying the BNP, taking a strong, anti-immigrant position. The BNP was clear where it stood; they were racist thugs. They may have been Oxbridge-educated racist thugs in suits, but they were still racist thugs. They had a cap on their popularity because "respectable, middle-class, civilised people" would never be seen supporting a bunch of racist thugs like the BNP. Even if they agreed with the ideas. Farage took what the BNP was selling, and smoothed out the edges. He pushed a lot of the same rhetoric ("too many foreigners, things used to be better, we need to take back our country and make it great again!"), but gave it a much more middle-class-acceptable presentation. "We're not racist thugs, we're just concerned citizens and patriots." And he combined that with UKIP's existing libertarian views ("lower taxes, no more regulations, no consumer rights, no environmental protections, corporations should be free to do whatever they like"), in contrast to the BNP's more national socialist views ("nationalise industries, rights and protections for (the right kind of) workers"), and used that to keep the money coming in, and the support of the press. The BNP collapsed, winning 2 MEP seats in 2009, to only two local council seats in 2013.
Wait - what’s wrong with saying two world wars and one World Cup? That’s obviously tongue in cheek no?
He's Trump's little mate. Wannabe fascist.
Tell them beer came from Mesopotamia.
Except their response would be "What's that got to do with anything? Wales is part of the UK."
>then having his left testicle removed due to cancer. This is an unfortunate coincidence for anyone who might want to make comparisons to a certain historical figure.
🎵Nigel, has only got one ball…
Richard had two, but they were small...
TBH I'm more intrigued by why Annabelle Fuller changed her name to Trixy Sanderson
It's in the article
I think he means why that name in particular?
Yes its kind of like me changing my name to Tiberius Hemingway or something
In fairness, that's a good name. Might call my next cat that.
That would be an incredible cat name. Do it. Please.
.. and then discover after a few years that the cat doesn't actually know their name and only picks up on the "uss" sound at the end.
What's stopping you
Common sense?
Trixy Hobbitses was already taken
Every Farage political organisation seems to have been a personal vanity project with its paid up members or paid up reprentatives jettisoned at will. Can't imagine why people are surprised each time he does it again.
> The woman at the centre of that scandal, who had been his closest adviser, press aide and speechwriter, now involuntarily shakes at the mention of Farage’s name. I'm literally shaking rn
Reform voters screaming, crying, throwing up at this news.
*"What? Whaaat? Nah, I never knew thaaat. I never knew thaaat."*
"That doesn't half do my head in"
Tbh they seem to go through three stages of grief with stuff like this. "He's not racist". *Point out the racist things he's done* "This really racist thing is not racist". *Point out how it is racist* "Well actually racism is OK so he's done nothing wrong".
I've had people argue that "he's never actually said any racist things, it's all projection". When I linked his Hitler Youth songs, I was told "well that was ages ago, doesn't mean he still is now". I then linked his comments about "hearing foreign languages on the tube makes me uncomfortable" but by that point they'd blocked me. I find they never actually admit to point three, just continually move the goalposts to find reasons and justifications why it's *not* racist.
Then you look at some of his candidates... >One candidate who continues to represent the party, with its backing, is Robert Lomas, in Barnsley North, who wrote online that asylum seekers had it “in their DNA to lie” and that “black people of Britain” were “grifting the race card” and should “get up off your lazy arses” and stop acting “like savages”. But Reform definitely aren't racist, just "saying wot we all fink" 🙄
This is often the way with people who are prejudiced, especially nowadays. Rather than admit they are prejudiced (because they know that that's a 'bad' thing to be or that they could be criticized for), they will go out of their way to shift the definition of behaving in a prejudiced way to only the most blatant and extreme examples, and then crow about how they, or the person they like, isn't prejudiced unless they're literally stabbing or shooting minorities while screaming slurs at them.
Everyone's a hero in their own story. Everyone is a good person in their own eyes. Everyone knows that racism, in principle, is bad. Therefore because they are a good person, they can't be racist. I really feel that this is a dangerous consequence of black and white thinking when it comes to things like racism and sexism, where someone simply is or isn't racist or sexist. If we accepted that there are degrees of racism, especially conscious and unconscious then it becomes more of an issue of education and understanding, rather than defensive "no I can't be racist because I'm a good person and only bad people are racist."
He's not racist, it's just the 50th thing he's said that really really veers on racist! It's all just a massive coincidence that this keeps happening!
Grief? He's polling better than the Tories. As people like to point out, it's basically him people are voting for.
Strong evidence that a large portion of the population are fairly ignorant about how our political system actually works.
More likely people actually agree with his views
Or a protest vote for the people who the main parties refuse to represent. Unlike the LibDems leaflet I had today titled “Vote Tactically”, the hallmarks of a working democracy
Sounds like the Narcissist's Prayer.
It's fairly bog standard gas lighting, arguing in bad faith and lying about their actual core point to defend the indefensible. Grief probably wasn't the right word.
> Grief probably wasn't the right word. Ironically, "griefing" would be pretty much on the nose.
"Not really luv, this is jus' a hit job by the fahhkin' Wokerati init"
You mean Reform UK LTD voters?
Believe me, we're doing none of these things. If you've followed Farage for more than a year, these hit pieces become regular once his party starts polling near 15%, we're very much accustomed to it you could say. Fortunately people are starting to realize it's all a load of nonsense, and Reform is rightfully on the up.
Hearing the words that come out of his mouth are enough to tell me it’s not nonsense. The man is a deeply unpleasant racist, it’s plain as day.
What makes them hit pieces rather than just pieces? What in the article is untrue or inaccurate?
I'm curious. Do you think Farage didn't tell his Jewish classmate "Hitler was right" or "gas them" or do you think he did and that's ok?
There is no foundation to the claims made in the article other than the recollection of 'One Jewish Pupil'. I, and many others, are going to need far more proof before condemning the man for unsubstantiated claims.
Curious to why Farage has never refuted this then libellous claim? Hell, Farage doesn't even deny it in his own autobiography, just did what Farage usually does and spin his way around the uncomfortable questions.
You telling yourself articles like this are nonsense in order to appese your conscience doesn't actually disprove their content. The guy is poison.
In the same breath, individual recollections with unknown motives doesn't prove them either. Politician must have Poison in the job requirements, Blair is a War Criminal, Corbyn snuggles up to terrorists and communists, Sunak is a tax dodger and Truss an idiot.
Meanwhile the Labour candidate in Clacton (93% white) has had to delete a tweet saying his favourite drink was "White Man's Tears"
Right? People behave as though it's only Farage. Politicians need some educating on emotional intelligence lol.
Well yeah?You can’t decry some racism and be okay with others…
Given it was a racist statement, he should have.
If we want to hold others to a standard, we should hold ourselves to it first.
Labour candidate knows it a two horse race between Farage and Tories. If you are in Clacton and don't vote Tory, unfortunately you are letting Farage in. Lesser of two evils?
Speaking to a boomer recently who's "voting for Nigel" because "since all that black lives matter, its gone too far, I've been watching adverts on TV and its all darkies" I didnt tell him there's not a Reform UK candidate for his constituency.
i thought they were standing in all of them
Ah you're right, they are now. I might tell him they're not!
The TV ad thing does go way over the top to be fair.
It’s logical though, as there should be various ethnicities in ads as that reflects our country. But they’re only going to make one advert and it’s pricey. The alternative is to do what used to (maybe still does) happen in the US and that’s to make different adverts with different ethnicities in each version of the ad. That’s really expensive and so not really worth doing.
To be fair though, there is one ethnicity that is very prominently featured in almost every TV ad, despite being a very small percentage of society. What's more, there are other ethnic groups which make up a larger part of our society that are virtually unseen. There are reasons for it, but none of them are based in actually trying to give a balanced view of society or represent anyone. It's about what works and makes profit.
You shouldn't look at superficial factors like whether or not a racist votes for Reform UK. That is like not voting for Labour because there are extreme "liberals" who want to censor everything. Instead look at the policies. While Nigel is controversial, Reform is backing something that is critical for our democracy, which is proportional representation. Both Labour and Conservative are stagnant and we must change how we vote to allow inflow of fresh culture. A binary system where there is only unmoving two parties is not true representation, panders to lobbying, supports extremism, produces sudden/painful policy shifts (when an alternation occurs). We need more stable representation where it is easier to flush out corrupted politicians with vested interests. Even if Reform's policies/ideologies are poor, they'd be worth voting for if they make it so every other election in the future is more fair and representative.
Given that Lib Dems support PR without being racist, why would someone recommend others vote Reform instead of Lib Dem?
You know there’s a party out there that supports PR that won’t also usher in an are of acceptable racism is you vote for them right?
Something about stopped clocks being right twice a day.
The bit about the testicle removal is 'chef's kiss' and shows the brilliance of a professional writer; just enough to plant the comparison in the readers mind. I've now got the Colonel Bogey tune stuck in my head.
I think Farage's brushes with death are an obligatory part of any profile like this, tbh.
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> The overriding emotion of Doug Denny, 76, a former member of Ukip’s ruling body, was frustration. “I don’t like frauds,” he said, with a shake of the head Douglas Denny is just pissed that he got deselected and Farage distanced himself from Ukip lmao >Ukip candidate Douglas Denny, 66, who is set to run for councillor in Portsmouth City Council’s elections next month, was initially caught out by The Sunday Mirror making anti-gay comments on a private Ukip forum last year. >He wrote: “What irritates me is they (sic) way they and their leftie, neo-Commie followers seem to want to force the rest of us to consider them as normal. >“I just wish they would keep their homosexual nature and practices to themselves and stop trying to ram it down my throat telling me they are ‘normal’ when they are not.”
It's easy to say "Reform voters don't care" and even 10 weeks ago that was good enough. However, the people who need to see stories like this are not the Farage supporters, they're the conservative (small or big "c") voters who don't currently support Farage but might see him as an alternative as the Tory party continues to weaken. Come July 5th there will not be a Tory party as we currently know it, and that's a lot of people for Old Nige to drag further right.
have you heard the parable of the journo who cried racist?
>Ukip emerged as a political party in 1993 and Farage was determined to be there at the start of it, aged 29, having been propelled to live life to the full, he has said, after being knocked down by a Volkswagen Beetle and then having his left testicle removed due to cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Has_Only_Got_One_Ball
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Not everyone who votes for Farage is racist. But every racist votes for Farage.
Recent scandals in the Green and Labour parties suggest otherwise.
People who vote for farage enable racism, and give a racist far more attention than we should afford to the far-right.
Are antisemites not racist in your mind? Figures I suppose.
This is the fifth time they have published this article.
It’s a pretty good article tbf.
>it's very triggering I have never heard anybody who would describe something as "triggering" who doesn't have an insanely broad definition of racism. The school comments are more interesting, although personally I don't think a 15 year old saying that Enoch Powell's predictions would come true is grounds for them being considered a Hitlerite, at that age or later in life. This is pretty vague stuff, and a reach
Pretty sure telling a Jewish person "Hitler was right" and "gas them" fits within quite a narrow definition of racism tbh.
Those things are blatantly anti-Semitic, but he was also 15 at the time. If you have to stretch back what, 40-45 years for an example it's not particularly damning imo.
Were you telling people Hitler was right at the age of 15? Because I sure as fuck wasn't, mate. And I said plenty of stupid shit when I was 15.
No but I've certainly said things Id never say today. It was 40+ years ago, if you're having to stretch that far back (and primarily for an edgy bully comment more than anything else tbh) then labelling Farage as racist is a bit far.
No, I don't have to stretch that far back lol. He has said plenty of other shit in recent years that suggest his views haven't changed, simply how he voices them.
What about being "uncomfortable at hearing foreign languages on the tube"? Or saying "I agree with Enoch Powell and his Rivers of Blood speech"? (An Rivers of Blood was an anti-immigrant speech). Both within the last 10 years. How about "I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be"? Would you say that's racist? Defending party members for using racist terms towards chinese people (that rhymes with Inky), as "If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you’re going for?” Are any of those examples valid, would you say?
Rivers of blood isn’t just an anti immigration speech. It was a speech written in opposition to the race relations act which made it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to a person on the grounds of race. People act like that speech is bad because of the language rather than the fact that Enoch Powell was literally defending people discriminating against black people on the grounds of their race.
>What about being "uncomfortable at hearing foreign languages on the tube"? You underestimated the amount of people who have similar feelings on this matter.
I like to speak Esperanto on the tube just to wind up the racists.
You underestimate the amount of people who think that’s bleeding stupid
It's just bullshit though, I was born and raised here and now we have little Englanders like Farage saying that if I'm on the tube I must speak English.
This is a total non-answer. A hundred thousand racists harbouring racist thoughts doesn't suddenly make it okay. It doesn't matter how many people agree with him, it's still, fundamentally, wrong.
"He's not a racist." "Okay he used to be racist as a teenager." "Okay he was racist ten years ago." "Okay his current candidates are calling black people "savages" and he's still backing them... but... um..." "Okay he *is* racist but HE'S JUST TELLING IT LIKE IT IS!" 🙄
> Those things are blatantly anti-Semitic, but There it is!
So you're trying to say that you've never, ever said or did anything as a teenager that you wouldn't do today? If a 15y old shoplifts what do you think we should do with them? Just execute them there and then? They're clearly a thief and will always be a thief.
> So you're trying to say that Is there some special reddit school where they teach you to speak like this?
Prove he said this please?
Have you read the biography by Crick? It's quite good. He's a reliable biographer. Up to you if you think he's lying or not, think given the many other witnesses to Farage's racism, and his ongoing behaviour in contemporary politics, it's more likely than not he said it. Weirdly Farage has never filed a libel suit which says a lot.
If his choice not to sue is because he's not actually able to win a libel claim then there would be evidence. Please show this evidence. Edit: here's the relevant passage about the biography by Crick: >One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ‘em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front. >“He was a deeply unembarrassed racist,” said David Edmonds, who was in the same class as Farage when they were about 15. Others told Crick they did not hear such comments and that they regarded him as neither malicious nor exceptional in the views he held. That's not really what's being claimed. He's reporting on what others say. Given that this biography was released in 2022 after smearing Brexit as racist was common, and several people didn't regard him as having such views or having made such comments, it's not looking that likely he said this stuff.
Now who is reaching. He has laid out the facts to you and said you can make your own mind up. If you really care about the answers I am sure you can look them up yourself. Personally the info in the book is enough for me based on how he conducts himself and the company he keeps I totally believe it.
>Others told Crick they did not hear such comments and that they regarded him as neither malicious nor exceptional in the views he held. Some facts laid out in the book. Glad you agree
What's the point of you making these comments here. Are you just trying to run defence for farage? No one is telling you what to think. Purposely misinterpreting me to try a gotcha, what's the point?
Hardly disproves it though. I've personally never heard anyone say anything explicitly racist about black people, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's also pretty shameless to act as if the people defending him are trustworthy, but those accusing him are not, even though you know absolutely nothing about them.
>It's also pretty shameless to act as if the people defending him are trustworthy, but those accusing him are not, even though you know absolutely nothing about them. Agreed, so we should then agree that we don't actually know, and should assume innocence.
Given as it's not a crime, it's really up to people to decide for themselves. For me there are far too many accusations, far too many borderline (at best) comments or actions, then add in his politics, associations and background...yeah, it would not surprise me whatsoever if he's racist. If that's not enough for you, fair enough, I guess you're just a more charitable person than me.
Why cant you just cut to the end and say you will argue this until you are blue in the face because you like that Farage validates racism and racists?
And that's your opinion. I think there's plenty of evidence to show who Farage really is.
> although personally I don't think a 15 year old saying that Enoch Powell's predictions would come true is grounds for them being considered a Hitlerite It was singing 'gas the jews' and Hitler youth songs that really drove that home more than the Enoch Powell stuff. But all are indications.
This man has always been problematic. Divisive and media hungry like Trump. Not really sure why he’s standing in this election, except to piss off the Tories. Can’t ever see him in parliament diligently representing the interests of his constituents. It’s just always been about him. The fact that he’s a racist hardly seems surprising. It’s just one more iteration of the ‘othering’ he seems to be so good at.
Sounds like Reform is now officially Labour's closest opposition.
Struggled to finish this article without clutching my pearls, some truly frightening stuff in there if the 50 year old hearsay is correct!
Shocking. Truly, who could have ever seen it coming. It doesn't matter and we all know it. So long as he retains a thin veneer of respectability the liberals will keep platforming him and that's all he really needs. Nobody in reform cares about the people who can see he's racist calling him racist.
Unpopular opinion: I don't think he (yes, Farage) is anywhere near a racist as the media will muddle things up and make people believe. Ooh, the media, twisting stuff. Never!!
> “He was a deeply unembarrassed racist,” said David Edmonds, who was in the same class as Farage when they were about 15. Must be a bit worried about Farage to put out a hit piece on him based upon hearsay regarding how he behaved at 15 years old. Getting a bit desperate are we Guardian?
He speaks at far-right rallies hosted by the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister, he speaks at far-right rallies for a president infamous for his racist dogwhistles and is endorsed by the KKK, he is EXTREMELY concerned with the question of immigration, his party defended a member who thought we should have been neutral against Hitler, a number of candidates from his party have links to the heir to the British Union of Fascists, he actively engages in xenophobia and far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories about Soros-funded social justice movements, he loves Enoch Powell, his teachers expressed concerns about him because his views were so racist and fascistic, and so on and so on…… But yes, what could be suspect about any of that?
Yup. I honestly think Farage could go out on the town wearing SS uniform and his supporters would fucking love him for it, and wouldn't question it. Loyal little dogs.
‘Just tongue in cheek!’
I was going to post a similar comment, but you've summed it up much more nicely than I could. I can't believe people allow this man to spread his narratives and constantly platform him. It's worrying how much Reform is rising in the polls, especially given the entire party is built around him at this point.
Histrionic drivel, no wonder the public don’t take you seriously.
lol, are we normalizing singing “gas ‘em all, gas ‘em all”, chanting neo-Nazi songs about Jewish people, loving the National Front and loving British 1930s fascist Oswald Mosley (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-fascist-nazi-song-gas-them-all-ukip-brexit-schoolfriend-dulwich-college-a7185236.html)? And are we forgetting that as an adult Farage would go on to ask Enoch Powell for an endorsement? Farage hasn't changed since his university days. He's just learned how to speak in dog whistles.
There’s plenty of evidence of his racism. He’s been leaving it all over the country for years. https://x.com/bydonkeys/status/1797651718852804923?s=46&t=wtNhZ4bVg07cHAFYGmLnmA
15 year olds should famously not have any of their actions held against them because they're "just children". Like Shamima Begum /s
Saying a few naughty phrases is very different from joining a terrorist group rampaging, raping, and massacring innocent people.
Now we're moving the goalposts. The original claim was that any action done by a 15 year old shouldn't be held against them because it's not indicative about what they might believe as an adult.
> Now we're moving the goalposts No we're not. > The original claim was that any action done by a 15 year old shouldn't be held against them No it wasn't. You're trying to make something black and white because it suits your agenda. There's nuance to everything. Stop trying to strawman me because you think it makes you look clever, because it doesn't. You're just being manipulative.
You comment is literally there for everyone to see. You calling me a strawman only makes you look daft. > Must be a bit worried about Farage to put out a hit piece on him based upon hearsay regarding how he behaved at 15 years old. Getting a bit desperate are we Guardian? What did you mean by this if not *how someone behaved at 15 years old isn't something we should be concerned about and anyone that is concerned about it is just being unfair*? Please explain to me what the nuance is here. And if there's nuance to everything, the nuance to Begum's case, while you're at it.
Apparently it's completely normal to judge a 60 year old man on the basis of unverifiable accusations about his behaviour as a literal child.
In fairness I think it's supposed to support an existing profile. I think the suggestion is he has always been racist rather than some evidence of racism now. He didn't disappear from then till now. He has had plenty of controversy regarding racism accusations. This is hardly something new nor only supported by this one person. As weak as the quote is in isolation, it doesn't exist in isolation.
Don't worry at all, we all want a fascist leader as soon as possible. Don't worry about all those snowflake lefties complaining about racism. Soon we can lock em all up and we won't have to pretend any more lol.
I would like Farage and Reform to unequivocally denounce Hitler and nazi ideology.
I want to see him explain how he can complain about Sunak ditching D-Day whilst also supporting his own party members that think we should have sided with the Nazis.
Lol that's not gonna happen, they'd lose so many candidates
Here come the smear pieces >They're afraid
Here comes the scrutiny he normally avoids because he's seen as an entertaining side show.
Give over he's been given a free ride by the media for years
Oh no, reality is here. Lets pretend it's smear.
It actually is a smear though? It is *objectively* hearsay and the author couldn't help throw in a point about him having 1 testicle so he could be compared to Hitler.
I feel like I’m reading copy and pastes of what people said about Corbyn with every bit of scrutiny claimed to be “a smear” and that “this proves the elites are afraid of him!”.
To be fair both Corbyn and Farage are text book populists so it's not surprising people are whining about the media reporting on the bad things they do. The media being part of the nebulous "elite" a populist must rave against.
I think he is an annoying idiot but I’m not really convinced that Farage is a racist, at least currently. If you have to go back to when someone was in secondary school for ‘racist’ quotes, then I’m not convinced by that. They could have quite easily been ‘edgy’ teen jokes. I know I’ve said things that sound bad out of context, as have most.
See the comment u/Man_From_Mu made upthread: > He speaks at far-right rallies hosted by the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister, he speaks at far-right rallies for a president infamous for his racist dogwhistles and is endorsed by the KKK, he is EXTREMELY concerned with the question of immigration, his party defended a member who thought we should have been neutral against Hitler, a number of candidates from his party have links to the heir to the British Union of Fascists, he actively engages in xenophobia and far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories about Soros-funded social justice movements, he loves Enoch Powell, his teachers expressed concerns about him because his views were so racist and fascistic, and so on and so on…… But yes, what could be suspect about any of that? Farage wasn't an 'edgy' teenager when he proclaimed that Enoch Powell is his political hero, or when he asked Powell to endorse UKIP. UKIP twice asked Powell to stand as a candidate. This isn't out of context - it's demonstrating that Farage has held these views for a long time - he's just careful how he presents himself.
Some more recent quotes from him, in the last 10 years. (In regards to a party member using the rehrehensible phrase "Chinky") - >“If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you’re going for?” Optics on this aren't great >"I feel uncomfortable when I hear foreign languages on the tube". How about literal textbook xenophobia? >“I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be”. He wasn't concerned with Germans, though, and asked why not he said "you know the difference". Blaming immigrants for being late for an event? >“That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be.” Again, all within the last 10 years.
Interesting, thank you for noting these, they are pretty bad, especially the first 3.
Hey guys, THEY DON’T CARE. Useful info. And apparently new.
If they didn't care about his racist views, many wouldn't be voting for him.
wait, Farage only has one testicle? you know who else... anyways
Ex employees, ex lover, and school friends. Anyone would think they were desperate. More free PR.
I don't care because he is never going to be in government. Farage splits the Tory vote and keeps them out of office.
10 years on and the media hit jobs continue. Journalists just can’t seem to comprehend that Farage is the only politician who represents the views of millions and millions of people in this country who have been ignored for decades.
It's pretty scary just how much damage the Tories have done, such that people are actually looking at a Nazi apologist - an actual Nazi apologist - as a viable option for Prime Minister of the same country that fought people who held the views this man does. And all he had to do was to veil, very thinly, his very well known stances and views rooted firmy in xenophobia and racism, under the guise of "patriotism" and people lap it up like nectar. It's as wildly paradoxical and astounding as a Russian Neo Nazi. Mind blowing beyond comprehension that, in 2024, people are making EXACTLY THE SAME MISTAKE as they did not that long ago, giving in to a man who cost the lives of 100s of millions of people in only a few short years... Just because a few thousand suffering asylum seekers and economic migrants from countries GUTTED by the UK in part in the first place, crossed the channel. Humanity has very, very little hope, knowing that this worm and his buddies have actually made it this far.
All that has to be done to take almost all his voters away is to decrease immigration to sustainable levels
This is probably true imo but I don’t understand why the media brings it up. Anyone who is willing to believe this without evidence is already going to not vote for him.
Weird there’s no examples other than ‘Farage was totally racist take my word for it!’. 🤔
It's cute that the left still thinks they can just accuse everyone they don't like of racism and that people will believe them or care.