David Lammy was today sworn in as Lord Chancellor at the Royal Courts of Justice – just hours after he was forced to backtrack on his ‘Hitler Youth’ jibe at Nigel Farage.
The Labour politician, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, donned traditional robes and a wig for the central London ceremony.
It came after Mr Lammy had sparked a furious row at Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, as he took aim at Mr Farage.
Commenting on the Reform UK leader, Mr Lammy said it was ‘for the public to come to their own judgments about someone who once flirted with Hitler Youth when he was younger’.
The statement appeared to reference allegations that emerged in 2013 that Mr Farage sang Nazi songs as a schoolboy.
Mr Farage denied the allegations at the time, which stemmed from a 1981 letter reportedly written by his teacher claiming the schoolboy and others marched through a village ‘shouting Hitler Youth songs’.
In a later interview with the BBC, Mr Lammy rowed back on his comments as he acknowledged the Reform leader had denied the allegations, saying: ‘I accept that he has denied it.’
He added: ‘I wasn’t at school with Nigel Farage. I don’t know what songs he sang at school.’
David Lammy was today sworn in as Lord Chancellor at the Royal Courts of Justice – just hours after he was forced to backtrack on his ‘Hitler Youth’ jibe at Nigel Farage
The Labour politician, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, donned traditional robes and a wig for the central London ceremony
It came after Mr Lammy had sparked a furious row at Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, as he took aim at Mr Farage
The Hitler Youth was the fascist paramilitary group for children during Nazi rule in Germany. But it was disbanded in 1945, almost 20 years before Mr Farage was even born.
An incredulous Reform source said they had ‘no words’ to describe the Deputy PM’s intervention.
It is not the first time Mr Lammy has drawn a comparison between political opponents and the Nazis.
In January 2019, in response to Donald Trump posting his ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign slogan on social media, Mr Lammy commented: ‘Hitler said the same about Germany in a speech in February 1940… We see you Mr Trump.’
In April the same year, Mr Lammy doubled down on comparing the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers to the Nazis and proponents of South African apartheid.
As he defended his comments, the Labour politician said they were ‘not strong enough’.
Asked if it was fair to make such a comment about elected politicians, he said: ‘I don’t care how elected they were: so was the far-Right in Germany.’
Commenting on Mr Farage, Mr Lammy said it was ‘for the public to come to their own judgments about someone who once flirted with Hitler Youth when he was younger’
Mr Lammy’s comments about Mr Farage came after Sir Keir Starmer had dedicated much of his keynote conference speech in Livepool to attacking the Reform leader
Mr Lammy’s comments about Mr Farage came after Sir Keir Starmer had dedicated much of his keynote conference speech in Livepool to attacking the Reform leader.
The Prime Minister claimed that ‘snake oil salesman’ Mr Farage ‘doesn’t like Britain’ and was interested only in stoking ‘the politics of grievance’.
In a furious response to Sir Keir’s speech, Mr Farage accused the PM of ‘inciting’ the ‘radical Left’ against him and his supporters, as he invoked the murder of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Asked about Mr Lammy’s ‘Hitler Youth’ jibe about Mr Farage, fellow Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said on Wednesday morning: ‘Look, people will chase individual comments around, but the heart of this is a debate about policy and the direction of the country.’
The Work and Pensions Secretary added: ‘When I reflect on the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday, he did show a sense of fight back against some of the issues that have been prominent in debate in recent months.
‘But he also showed a great belief in the country, what makes Britain great, our sense of community, our creativity.
‘And I think we’ve needed that in politics, because there’s been too much about ‘Britain being broken, everything being broken, nothing works’.
‘Of course, the country’s got challenges, any country does, but we’re addressing those through what we’re doing with the NHS, the youth guarantee for young unemployed people and a lot of the really good policies that have been announced in Liverpool over the last few days.’
Mr McFadden defended Labour’s relentless attacks on Reform during their party conference.
‘Politics is a fight, and we’re in a fight. We’re in a big fight for the future direction of the country,’ he said.
‘And if we hadn’t addressed what that fight is, I think people would have wondered what planet we were on when we came in here.
‘So we make no apologies for examining our opponent. Being ahead in the polls brings with it scrutiny of your policies, and that goes with the territory.
‘If your policy is to say to people – who’ve been in the country legally, worked here legally, paid tax here legally, made a huge contribution to the country – that ‘we’re going to tear up your settled status and we may deport you’, that’s one of the most un-British things I can think of to do.
‘The British way is not to break your word and break your promise. And scrutiny of Reform policies like that will go with the territory of having a prominent position in the polls, and they’d better get used to it.’
