A former Dulwich College pupil has alleged that Nigel Farage directed racist remarks at him during their time at the south-east London school. Yinka Bankole claims that Farage repeatedly targeted him when he was nine years old, making the future Reform UK leader around seventeen at the time.

Bankole, now 54, reflects on his childhood as the son of Nigerian immigrant parents in early-1980s Britain. He describes how his family had taken pride in securing him a place at such a prestigious institution.

Dulwich College was, and remains, a well-regarded independent boys’ school known for its strong academic record, as well as its emphasis on the arts and sport. During the period the pair attended, the school’s demographic was predominantly middle- to upper-class London families, with bursaries and scholarships offered to pupils from other backgrounds.

Bankole recalls one of the earliest incidents, which he says took place in the playground. According to his account, the teenage Farage confronted him directly: “He towered over me.

‘Where are you from?’ he asked… ‘That’s the way back to Africa,’” Bankole said, accompanied by a dismissive hand gesture pointing into the distance.

He describes this moment as the beginning of sustained racial harassment from Farage and a small group of his friends. “He would wait at the lower-school gate, where I was dropped off each morning, just to repeat the same vulgarity,” Bankole says.

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These allegations come only weeks after more than twenty of Farage’s former schoolmates reportedly described racist or antisemitic behaviour from him dating back to the same era. Farage has strongly denied all claims, implying it to be “inconceivable” that anyone could accurately recall events from more than forty years ago.

Bankole maintains that the memory is unmistakable. He says he will never forget “the look of hatred” he felt directed at him “all over something as simple as existing.”