Channel 4 News - Nigel Farage - school letter 4th June 1981

Sources:
Channel 4 News:
http://www.channel4.com/news/nigel-farage-ukip-letter-school-concerns-racism-fascism

Scribd:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/169454715/Nigel-Farage-1981-school-letter#fullscreen

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From Chloë Deakin                                  E3 ALBANY
     _______
                                                      PICCADILLY
01•734 1717 and 1718
                                                                W1V 9RH



                                                     4th June 1981

Dear Master,

    I am happy to say that I am not acquainted with N. P. Farage,
of MSRY——happy, because judging from the reports I have re-
ceived he is not someone with whom I would wish to be acquainted;
and because I am, therefore, able to write on the ground of no
personal prejudice, but on that concerning principle.

    You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about
the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage
was "a fascist, but that was no reason why he would not make a
good prefect" invoked considerable reaction from members of
the Common Room.  Another colleague, who teaches the boy, des-
cribed 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 that behaviour was precisely why the
boy should not be made a prefect.  Yet another colleague described
how, at a CCF camp organized by the College, Farage and others
had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shout-
ing Hitler-youth songs; and when it was suggested by a master
that boys who expressed such views "don't really mean them", the
College Chaplain himself commented that, on the contrary, in his
experience views of that kind expressed by boys of that age are
deep-seated, __and are meant.__

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                                  2.

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    At the end of that meeting I had not a scintilla of doubt that
after the facts disclosed to you, Farage's nomination would no
longer be considered.  Nor, I imaging had my colleagues; other-
wise, we would have expressed ourselves even more strongly.

    But yesterday I was told by a senior boy, in terms of disgust,
that Farage was indeed to be selected; and today, of course, his
appointment was announced in Assembly——an announcement, I gather,
which was met with disbelief and derision.  To say that it is too
late to reverse this decision, or that Farage's activities will be
restricted to particular areas of College life, or that he will be
supervised within them, is futile.  His appointment will have four
immediate consequences.

    First, it will vastly increase his own confidence, and sense
of self-justification.  Secondly, he will have the privilege of
listing his appointment as a prefect at Dulwich College in his uni-
versity and other applications.  Thirdly, his peers, according to
their own views, will either adopt him as an exemplar, or, as is
much more likely, regard his appointment with disillusionment and
cynicism when they observe that his notorious views and behaviour,
well known to both Master and members of the staff, are, as it
would appear, condoned by them.  Fourthly, those members of
the Common Room, such as myself, who believed that a firm
decision had been reached through a democratic process, will be
shocked, saddened, angered, and disheartened.

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                                  3.

    You will appreciate that I regard this as a very serious
matter.  I have often heard you tell our senior boys that they
are the nation's future leaders.  It is our collective responsibility
to ensure that these leaders are enlightened and compassionate.
As you know, the national and educational press has recently
given much prominence to the growing concern at the exploitation
of school pupils by extremists of all kinds.  A school of the
stature and high reputation of Dulwich College which openly con-
demned the recent troubles in Brixton, and offered its facilities
freely to the forces of law and order, ought not to be seen inside
or outside its confines to be giving itse endorsement, expressly or
by implication, to budding extremists of the opposite kind.

    A school which is proud of its selectiveness, conservatism,
and discipline, ought not to allow these characteristics to degen-
erate into intolerance, political extremism, or bullying of the
nastiest kind, in its pupils.  The matter of the appointment of
Farage as a prefect may be thought by some to be minuscule
against these deep considerations.  It is not so.

    I am by disposition, tolerant; and in politics, moderate.
But as a member of the Common Room, I find it distasteful that
a boy such as Farage should have bestowed upon him the prestige
of office and authority: were I a parent or a pupil, I would find
it profoundly so.

    In view, as I am aware, of the wide concern within the
College about this matter, I am sending a copy of this letter
to the chairman of the Common Room.

                                            Yours very sincerely,

                                           [ SIGNATURE - obfuscated ]

David Emms, Esq., MA,
       The Master of Dulwich College.