KINSELLA: Could allegations of past bigotry derail Reform UK Leader's bid to become PM?

LONDON – Is this Nigel Farage’s “grab ’em by the pussy” moment?

For those who were asleep or in a coma in October 2016: one month before the presidential vote, the fabled Access Hollywood tape was published by the Washington Post.

On the tape, Donald Trump is heard saying, and we quote: “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

The “they” was women. The “I” was Donald Trump.

It was awful, it was misogynistic, and – as things turned out – it was no impediment whatsoever to winning the presidency. The Access Hollywood tape notwithstanding, Trump narrowly won the 2016 race, which probably said more about Americans than it did about him. But I digress.

Similar controversy raging in the U.K.

For days here in the United Kingdom, there has been a similar sort of controversy raging about a similar sort of politician – you know, the bigoted, bilious old man type of politician. Nigel Farage.

Farage – whose name does not rhyme with “garbage,” but possibly could – is the leader of Reform UK, which is essentially the British equivalent of MAGA Republicans. He has been credibly pegged as a possible future prime minister.

Like Trump, Farage says lots of things that are outrageous. But this time, Farage may have been a bit too, too outrageous.

There is no incriminating tape in Farage’s case, but there are nearly 30 former schoolmates of his. All have stepped forward to assist the left-leaning tabloid The Guardian in its investigation into Farage’s conduct when he attended Dulwich college school in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The Guardian and the BBC have come up with some memorable statements and actions ascribed to Farage.

Here’s a sampling:

– “Hitler was right” and “gas them,” allegedly said to Jewish students.

– Farage reportedly made hissing noises, like those heard in the Nazi gas chambers, at young Jews.

– Southeast Asian pupils were allegedly called “wogs” and “Pakis” by Farage, and repeatedly told to “go home.”

– And, most memorably, Farage purportedly taught younger military cadets in his care the words to a song that went like this: “Gas em all; Gas em all; Gas em all; And into the showers they crawl; We’ll gas all the n—–s; We’ll gas all the Jews; Come on you lads gas em all.”

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Trump dismissed his words as harmless locker-room banter

Trump dismissed his Access Hollywood words as harmless locker-room banter. Farage has sought to do the same this week in Britain.

At a deeply bizarre press conference on Thursday, Farage railed against his detractors, denying that he had done anything wrong – but also arguing that, if he said or did anything bigoted, well, so did the BBC. Which he has now said he would “boycott.”

He would “never directly hurt anyone,” Farage said.

It is unclear whether he acknowledged “indirectly” hurting anyone, however.

Elsewhere, Farage has called some of his alleged past antisemitism and racism as either made-up or “banter.” His lawyers have fired off threatening letters to various media outlets, too, but to no effect. The Dulwich scandal keeps growing.

Could it all impede the Reform UK leader’s upward ascent in the polls? Before the Dulwich story broke, Farage’s party was far ahead of the governing Labour Party, Politico reported.

Since then, Reform UK has slipped a bit, but not precipitously. The party remains ahead of Labour.

Farage’s personal numbers, however, have dropped a bit more – a possibly-ominous development for a politician who, for years, has been coated in anti-woke Teflon. Could it signal the end of Farage’s drive towards 10 Downing Street?

It’s early days. No one knows. But this scandal – decades-old as it is – shows no sign of abating.

Nick Hearn, a banker who described himself as a conservative, attended Dulwich with Farage. He called his former schoolmate “personal and vindictive” to minorities.

That sort of thing is widespread in politics, these days. It remains to be seen whether voters in Britain in 2025 will react like many Americans did in 2016 – with a shrug.