Nigel Farage was twice branded by Sir Keir Starmer as “spineless” for failing to take a stronger line over remarks about the proportion of black and Asian people in TV adverts by a Reform UK MP.
The Prime Minister also said that Mr Farage needed to explain allegedly racist remarks which The Guardian claimed he made as a schoolboy about a Jewish contemporary.
Mr Farage has denied allegations he had made antisemitic jibes at a fellow pupil at Dulwich College and taught younger pupils racist songs in the 1970s.
However, Sarah Pochin, Reform UK’s MP for Runcorn & Helsby, sparked a separate race row after being forced to apologise for saying that “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”.
Mrs Pochin said her comments were “phrased poorly” but insisted that many adverts are “unrepresentative of British society”.
Mr Farage said at the time that he was “very angry” with her but added that he understood “the basic point”.
He continued: “If I thought that the intention behind it was racist, I would have taken a lot more action than I have to date”.
However, Mr Farage’s failure to condemn the remarks was criticised as “spineless” by Sir Keir when he was answering questions en route to the G20 summit in South Africa on Thursday evening.
Sir Keir Starmer is heading to South Africa for yet another overseas summit
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The Prime Minister said: “He needs to explain those comments. I put that challenge indirectly to him at Prime Minister’s Questions.
“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.
Nigel Farage faced fresh accusations from a contemporary at Dulwich College
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“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.”
A Reform source said the Prime Minister was “desperate, sinking in the polls and lashing out” after he made the comments.
Responding to the “spineless jibe”, Mr Farage replied: “For the weakest Prime Minister in living memory to call me spineless is utterly ludicrous.
Sarah Pochin was sworn in as Reform UK’s first female MP in the House of Commons in May
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X / Sarah Pochin“The voters will have their say on both of us at the ballot box next May”.
Mrs Pochin also said: “My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.
“The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole.
“I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward.”
Keir Starmer is ramping up his attacks on Nigel Farage
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REUTERSIn response to the claims in The Guardian, a spokesman for Reform UK said: “These allegations are entirely without foundation.
“The Guardian has produced no contemporaneous record or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.
“It is no coincidence that this newspaper seeks to discredit Reform UK — a party that has led in over 150 consecutive opinion polls and whose leader bookmakers now have as the favourite to be the next Prime Minister.
“We fully expect these cynical attempts to smear Reform and mislead the public to intensify further as we move closer to the next election.”