Farage a Young Fascist surley not.

I suppose we must be fair to Nigel Farage  and give him some kind of leeway in reports that some of his teachers thought he was a fascist when a schoolboy.

However it makes interesting reading.

We have a long letter (below) written in June 1981 by a young English teacher, Chloe Deakin, begging the master of the college (head teacher), David Emms, to reconsider his decision to appoint Farage as a prefect. Deakin did not know Farage personally but her letter includes an account of what was said by staff at their annual meeting, held a few days earlier, to discuss new prefects.The letter says that when one teacher said Farage was "a fascist, but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect," there was "considerable reaction" from colleagues.The letter continues: "Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views; and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson. This master stated his view that this behaviour was precisely why the boy should not be made a prefect. Yet another colleague described how, at a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) camp organised by the college, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler-youth songs."

Farage response is that he was "Winding up Left-Wing Teachers".

Nigel Farage  He admits he was a "troublemaker" at school who "wound people up" with all sorts of views. He says some of the things he said may have been perceived as racist, but certainly weren't.

"I did say things that would offend deeply," he says. "And there were certainly two or three members of the English staff I made arguments against, that I didn't necessarily believe in."But any accusation I was ever involved in far right politics is utterly untrue."
I don't know any Hitler youth songs, in English or German."

But one can only wonder what the youthful Farage  considered to be left wing in a school like Dulwich.

My political awareness began about  the age of 14 and my views haven't really shifted from a Left Welsh Nationalism inded I've probably grown more left wing..

Other people may have years later different  views from their school-days.

One can only hope that Farage views have changed . But I doubt that he would admit it if they haven't.