None of these allegations are new, having first surfaced in 2013 when teachers' letters at Dulwich came to light. One of them observing that Farage was "a fascist, but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect." A flailing Keir Starmer happily seized on them at Prime Minister's Questions. "These are disturbing allegations and it is vital that Nigel Farage urgently explains himself", said the chief presser to the lobby hack huddle afterwards. Does it really matter what the Reform leader said while he was a kid almost 50 years ago? For Starmer and his team, as a recent convert to calling racism racism, they're hoping the label will stick. And if it does, it could cause the softer edges of Farage's coalition to think twice. Something that might have a stronger chance of working if the messenger bearing these attacks was held in higher regard.
However, the real political tell comes in the criticism of Farage. Or rather, its focus. Obviously, there's a link between racist young Farage and 61-year-old Farage who's done very well out of spouting anti-immigration drivel. His campaign was pivotal for helping Leave get over the referendum line in 2016. But dwelling on the past alibis the present. Starmer can't attack Farage now as a racist as, quite deliberately, Labour's attacks on refugees leapfrog Reform. Neither can Kemi Badenoch's Tories, who've also dabbled in overt racism - not that anyone cares enough to notice. The idea is to use whatever the press can dredge up about Farage, and then pin the racist label on him in a manner akin to the Anti-Nazi League's/Unite Against Fascism campaigning against the BNP in the 00s. And this, they hope, deflects from Labour's own scapegoating, its own racism, its own moral depravity. In other words, another cynical ploy unlikely to stymie Reform's support while doing nothing to rebuild Labour's own.
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