Sadiq Khan says Farage racism claims 'incredibly credible' as he recalls own abuse

Evening Standard

Sir Sadiq Khan says he finds the racism allegations against Nigel Farage to be "incredibly credible and believable" based on his own experience.The Reform UK leader vehemently denies claims he was racist to fellow pupils at top private school Dulwich College in the 1970s and 80s, which a party spokesman has dubbed "a witch hunt".Mr Farage has faced repeated questions over the allegations, which include claims that he told a Jewish pupil “Hitler was right” and said to a black pupil: “That’s the way back to Africa.”

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00:00We've been talking about racism and the return of a sort of normalisation of racism.

00:03I just wonder, you'll have followed what's going on with Nigel Farage

00:06and the accusations that have been made against him by some of his schoolmates from Dulwich College.

00:10Do you believe those who've accused him of racism and anti-Semitism?

00:15Speaking of personal experience, I still remember now, and I'm 55 years old,

00:21how I felt being racially abused as an 11-year-old, 12-year-old, 14-year-old.

00:27It doesn't leave you.

00:30And it's difficult to articulate the impact it has on you,

00:35how it changes how you behave, how it changes how you present yourself.

00:43And so when I hear the adults who talk about their experiences

00:47at the receiving end of alleged racism from Nigel Farage,

00:52I find it incredibly credible and believable from my own experience.

00:55I can't speak to whether or not Farage did say those things.

00:59Because it's a long time ago and that therefore they may have forgotten or be misremembering.

01:04You don't buy that.

01:06I just, as you ask me the question, I'm starting to feel how I felt.

01:11You don't forget it, Lewis.

01:12And so there are so many people I've seen on TV, I've heard on the radio who were at the receiving end at Dulwich College.

01:20They're articulating feelings that I've got.

01:23They're behaving in a way that I relate to.

01:25And so, yes, it was a long time ago.

01:29The response should be either an apology.

01:31I've changed my views.

01:34But to trivialise it by calling it banter is just so offensive to those of us who've been victims of racism.

01:39Can I tell you, it didn't feel like banter when I was called the P word.

01:42It didn't feel like banter when people made me feel like I'm welcome in a country I was born and raised in.

01:47And that is so offensive.

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