Nigel Farage is facing calls to explain why he repeatedly aired tropes and conspiracy theories associated with antisemitism during interviews, after claims the Reform UK leader used racist language in his teens. In appearances on US TV shows and podcasts earlier in his political career,
Farage discussed supposed plots by bankers to create a global government, citing
Goldman Sachs,
the Bilderberg group and the financier
George Soros as threats to democracy.
These included six guest slots on the web TV show of the disgraced far-right US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones...During one interview with Jones in 2018, Farage argued that “globalists” were trying to engineer a war with Russia “as an argument for us all to surrender our national sovereignty and give it up to a higher global level”.
Farage also
appeared six times on the web radio show of Rick Wiles, a far-right, antisemitic American pastor. Here, topics included whether central bankers would soon start to appoint leaders of the UK and US – an idea Farage did not challenge.
When the Guardian first reported these discussions in 2019, groups including the
Board of Deputies of British Jews and the
Community Security Trust, a charity providing support to the Jewish community in the UK, called on Farage to repudiate such ideas, many of which are associated with far-right and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
However, Farage never commented.
Zack Goldsmsith, however, did saying:
“We can judge Farage not just by the words he, allegedly, shouted as a child, but by the words and actions he has chosen to broadcast as an adult. “Throughout his career he has chosen to echo conspiracy theories through the language of the far right and antisemites. This is deplorable. But will he ever take any responsibility for anything he says or does? I seriously doubt it.”