Sir Keir Starmer has found himself in a heated row with Nigel Farage, after branding the Reform leader “spineless” and calling on him to explain himself over claims of racist behaviour during his days at a top public school.
The prime minister said Mr Farage did not have a “good track record” because he failed to take action against Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s “racist” remarks about the number of ethnic minorities appearing in television adverts.
Hitting back at Sir Keir, the Reform leader – who denies the claims about his behaviour while at Dulwich College as a teenager – said it is “utterly ludicrous” for the “weakest prime minister in living memory to call me spineless”.
The prime minister’s comments came as he was asked about a Guardian report based on allegations from more than a dozen school contemporaries of Mr Farage, 61, who recounted incidents of deeply offensive behaviour throughout his teenage years.
The Labour leader told reporters travelling with him to the G20 summit in South Africa: “He needs to explain the comments, or alleged comments that were made, and he needs to do that as soon as possible.
“He hasn’t got a good track record in relation to this because Sarah Pochin, his MP, made some clearly racist comments and Nigel Farage has done absolutely nothing about it.
“The man is spineless. If that had been someone in my party, I’d have dealt with it straight away. He needs to explain the latest allegations, and whilst he’s at it, he needs to explain why he’s too spineless to take action in relation to what is obvious racism in the comments of his fellow MP.
“So far he’s said absolutely nothing about it. He’s got plenty to say about plenty of things, apart from showing some leadership when it comes to racism.”
Mr Farage, who has threatened legal action over the claims, responded: “For the weakest prime minister in living memory to call me spineless is utterly ludicrous.
“The voters will have their say on both of us at the ballot box next May.”
A Reform source said Sir Keir was “desperate, sinking in the polls and lashing out”.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the party also said the allegations reported in The Guardian “are entirely without foundation” and said the newspaper “has produced no contemporaneous record or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago”.
Sir Keir’s comments about Ms Pochin came after the Reform MP last month said she was driven “mad” by seeing “adverts full of black and Asian people”, comments that sparked widespread criticism.
She later said her remarks were “phrased poorly” and apologised “for any offence caused”. She said she was trying to say many adverts were “unrepresentative of British society”.
Mr Farage resisted calls to suspend her from the party, saying he did not believe the “intention” behind her comments was “racist” and suggested they should be read in the context of “DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] madness”.
But writing in The Independent, deputy prime minister David Lammy said the comments “normalised” and marked a return to “flagrant racism”.
He said many people were “disgusted” by the remarks, criticising those “who would have us believe that we are more divided than we really are”.
Among those making allegations in The Guardian was the Bafta and Emmy-award winning director Peter Ettedgui, 61, who claimed to have been verbally abused by Mr Farage repeatedly as a 13 and 14-year-old.
“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,” Mr Ettedgui claimed of his experience of being in a class with Mr Farage.
