David Lammy’s Claim that Nigel Farage "flirted with the Hitler Youth" Verdict: FALSE

David Lammy’s claim is false. It relies on an uncorroborated rumour from decades ago, amplified by media, but contradicted by historical facts: the Hitler Youth was disbanded nearly 20 years before Nigel Farage was born, operated in another country, and never had a presence in Britain. Resorting to Nazi analogies via Godwin’s Law and straw man tactics highlights a failure to address issues on merit. Politicians should prioritise evidence over inflammatory smears.

Details

On 30 September 2025, UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told LBC radio that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had “once flirted with the Hitler Youth” during his youth.

The comment was made amid a discussion on Mr Farage’s views on race and immigration, sparking immediate controversy and a partial retraction from Mr Lammy the next day.

Mr Lammy clarified he was not calling Mr Farage a Nazi, but referenced “allegations that have been in the public domain for a long time” about his school years. However, the specific assertion of “flirting” with the Hitler Youth—a Nazi paramilitary youth organisation—lacks any factual basis and is demonstrably false.

The claim in context

David Lammy’s remark appears to stem from an earlier rumour, that originated in a Channel 4 News article in 2013 that was then repeated by the Guardian Newspaper. The Channel 4 claim was that they had 'uncovered' a letter from Dulwich College written in 1981 in which a teacher relayed second-hand concerns about Mr Farage’s behaviour. In the letter that Channel 4 claimed was authentic, Nigel Farage is said to have sung a song favoured by the “Hitler Youth" during a school cadet camping trip.

The letter has no hard evidence to corroborate it—no eyewitness statements, no additional records from the school, and no confirmation from any other participants. 

Mr Farage is on record as saying that the allegations were untrue, describing them as exaggerated and insisting he neither knew nor sang any such songs.  

Even if taken at face value, the rumour involves singing a song associated with the Nazis, not any form of affiliation or “flirting” with the Hitler Youth organisation itself.

Historical impossibility of the claim

The Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) was a Nazi youth organisation established in Germany in 1926 and officially disbanded in 1945 at the end of World War II.  Nigel Farage was born in 1964—nearly 20 years after its dissolution.

 It operated exclusively in Nazi Germany and occupied territories during the war; there is no historical evidence of any chapters or branches ever existing in Britain, either during or after its active period.

Any literal interpretation of “flirting with the Hitler Youth” is impossible, as the group ceased to exist long before Mr Farage’s birth, in a different country, with no presence in the UK.

If Mr Lammy intended the phrase metaphorically—to suggest an affinity for far-right ideologies—the underlying rumour remains unsubstantiated hearsay, lacking verifiable proof.

Invoking Godwin’s Law and rhetorical fallacies

Mr Lammy’s comment exemplifies Godwin’s Law, the adage that as an online (or political) discussion grows longer, the probability of a Nazi comparison approaches 1—often signalling a loss of rational argument.   By invoking the Hitler Youth, Mr Lammy escalates criticism of Mr Farage’s politics into baseless Nazi associations, a tactic that undermines substantive debate.

This also constitutes a straw man argument: misrepresenting Mr Farage’s positions (e.g., on immigration) as akin to historical fascism, then attacking that distorted version rather than engaging with his actual views.   Such rhetoric polarises discourse without advancing facts.

VERDICT: FALSE