Richard Tice blasts claims he made Nigel Farage's life harder over racist school allegations as 'nonsense'
The deputy leader of reform UK previously described the allegations as "made-up twaddle'
Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice has told LBC it is "nonsense" that he made Nigel Farage's life harder by calling the classmates of the Reform UK leader "liars" following historical accusations of racism.
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Mr Tice responded the claims on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr where he said he "does not regret" making the comments and refused to apologise to the accusers three times.
The defence come after the party's deputy leader said the historical allegations were "made-up twaddle."
Over 20 people were spoken to by the Guardian Guardian who alleged racist or antisemitic behaviour by Farage at school, including seven people who recall the targeted abuse of Peter Ettedgui, now an Emmy- and Bafta-winning director.
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Mr Ettedgui told the newspaper that Farage had “repeatedly” approached him and said “Hitler was right”, while they were both pupils at Dulwich College.
Asked by Andrew if he made life harder for Mr Farage by calling the classmates “liars” Mr Tice said: "Nonsense.
"What I stand by is the fact that later that day, Nigel produced the evidence that many people have said the opposite, that actually that this had been misinterpreted.
"And look, people might be offended by a bit of language here. Fine. That's the nature of politics. If people want me to be a bit more gentle, let's use another expression, recollections may vary, and they clearly do vary.
"It's 49 years ago."
Asked during a recent BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme whether he thought that saying "Hitler was right" to a Jewish person was direct racial abuse, Mr Tice said: “Yes I do. I can’t believe anybody would have said that," before calling it “made-up twaddle from people who don’t want Nigel to be prime minister of the country."
When asked by Andrew if he regretted using the word “liars” about some of those boys, he said: "If people are offended by it, they might be offended by it, but that's the nature of politics.
"When I am assaulted by a presenter saying that, "Let's talk about Hitler's special relationship with Nigel, right?"
"Hitler died 19 years before Nigel was born. There was no relationship. It was an outrageous interview by Emma Barnett."
He added: "I dont regret it. I could have stopped the interview on the basis of that outrageous start. I didn't.
"We carried on, and frankly, the BBC should be apologising to me for that outrageous interview. It was disgraceful."