Will Jones
Dr Will Jones is editor of the Daily Sceptic. He has a PhD in political philosophy, an MA in ethics, a BSc in mathematics and a diploma in theology. He lives in Leamington Spa with his wife and two children.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has been forced to row back on his bizarre claim that Nigel Farage “once flirted with the Hitler Youth”, which Farage has denied. The Telegraph has more.
The Deputy Prime Minister repeated allegations that the Reform UK leader marched through a village “shouting Hitler Youth songs” while a schoolboy.
Mr Farage has always denied the allegations, which stem from a 1981 letter from one of his schoolteachers and were first made more than a decade ago.
Mr Lammy made the comments amid a deepening racism row between Labour and Reform.
Asked whether he thought Mr Farage was a racist, the Justice Secretary told the BBC: “This is calling out his policies, his policies that would line people up who have a right to be in this country, who might be Indian, who might be Nigerian, and send them home. It’s not British. It doesn’t respect our values…
“I’m not going to play the man. I’m playing the ball, as our leader did.
“I will leave it for the public to come to their own judgements about someone who once flirted with Hitler Youth when he was younger.”
Hours later, Mr Lammy backtracked by saying: “He has denied it and so I accept that he has denied it and I would like to clarify that position.”
On Sunday, the Prime Minister branded Nigel Farage’s plans to make it harder for migrants to claim benefits racist, before announcing similar proposals of his own.
He used his speech to the Labour conference on Tuesday to wrap himself in the flag and accuse the Reform leader of not liking Britain.
Minutes after the speech, Mr Farage hit back, calling it a “desperate last throw of the dice” and accusing Sir Keir of inciting violence against Reform.
Got to love Lammy’s ‘I won’t play the man. But he was involved with Hitler Youth. That’s all I’m saying.’ I’m not sure Lammy understands what ‘not playing the man’ means…
Meanwhile, it’s emerged that Nigel Farage’s taxpayer-funded security was cut by 75 per cent just weeks ago. Reform says if anything happens to Farage, “we will hold Keir Starmer responsible”.
This article was originally published by the Daily Sceptic.
