Nigel Farage turned the tables on the BBC today in a furious row about racism.

The Reform UK leader has been dogged by questions from the corporation about alleged schoolboy racism, which he denies.

At a dramatic press conference on Thursday, he rounded on the BBC for ‘double standards’, pointing out that much of its own output in the 1970s and 1980s would be considered racist, sexist and homophobic by today’s standards.

He said that if the corporation wanted to apply the standards of today to the 1970s it should issue an apology for ever broadcasting programmes like The Black And White Minstrel Show, which is now seen by many as racist.

Mr Farage suggested he would be boycotting the national broadcaster, adding: ‘I’m done with you. Until you apologise, I’m not speaking to you.’

He rounded on a BBC reporter who asked him again about his days as a schoolboy, saying: ‘The double standards and hypocrisy of the BBC are absolutely astonishing.’

Mr Farage pointed out that during his schooldays in the 1970s and 1980s, the corporation’s own output included programmes such as The Black And White Minstrel Show, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and Til Death Us Do Part, which are all now deemed beyond the pale by many.

‘At the time I was alleged to have made these remarks, one of your most popular weekly shows was the Black and White Minstrels – right? The BBC were very happy to use blackface.

Furious: Nigel Farage said BBC suggestions he had a ‘relationship with Hitler’ were ‘despicable’

Hypocrisy: In the 1970s, the BBC regularly broadcast programmes like The Black And White Minstrel Show which would not be screened today

He added: ‘What about Alf Garnett? Remember that word he used to describe Marigold on prime-time, national TV? I better not repeat that word, otherwise you will use it and say that I used it.

‘Homophobia? Perfectly happy at the exact same time for Bernard Manning to appear on prime time national BBC comedy telling jokes which these days you’d probably get a knock at the door from the police and a 31-month prison sentence.’

The row came as it emerged Reform has received the biggest single donation in history to a political party from a living person.

The Electoral Commission revealed that British businessman Christopher Harborne gave the party a record £9million in the summer.

Mr Harborne is a cryptocurrency investor and aviation entrepreneur who lives in Thailand. He has previously donated large sums to the Brexit Party and the Conservatives under Boris Johnson’s leadership.

The BBC has reported extensively in recent weeks on claims made by some contemporaries of Mr Farage from his days at Dulwich College, in London, who allege he made racist and anti-Semitic comments, including one who claims the Reform UK leader told him: ‘Hitler was right.’

Today programme presenter Emma Barnett yesterday asked the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice to discuss Mr Farage’s ‘relationship with Hitler’.

Mr Farage said the framing of the question was ‘despicable, disgusting beyond belief’, adding: ‘Are you surprised that half a million people every year refuse to pay the licence fee?’

The Reform leader continued to deny he ever made racist remarks in a ‘malicious or nasty way’. But he said the culture in the 1970s was ‘very, very different’ from today.

He also read out a letter from another Dulwich schoolboy, who painted a different picture of his time there.

‘I was a Jewish pupil at Dulwich College at the same time and I remember him very well,’ he read.

‘While there was plenty of macho tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter, it was humour, and yes, sometimes it was offensive … but never with malice.

‘I never heard him racially abuse anyone. If he had, he would have been reported and punished. He wasn’t. The news stories are without evidence, except for belatedly, politically dubious recollections from nearly half a century ago.

‘Back in the 1970s the culture was very different … especially at Dulwich. Lots of boys said things they’d regret today or just laugh at.

‘Whilst Nigel stood out, he was neither aggressive nor a racist.’

Mr Farage said he had ‘plenty’ of similar messages over the last few days, and later claimed he has seen about half a dozen or so.

Mr Farage questioned whether the character of Alf Garnett in the BBC sitcom Til Death Us Do Part would be allowed on screens today

Several former Dulwich contemporaries have made accusations against Mr Farage to the BBC and Guardian newspaper.

His former classmate, Peter Ettedgui, who is Jewish, has claimed that Mr Farage had ‘repeatedly’ approached him and said ‘Hitler was right’, while they were pupils at the school.

Mr Tice on Thursday said his accusers were ‘lying’, adding: ‘This is made up twaddle by people who don’t want Nigel to be prime minister.’

The BBC has been asked to comment.

Labour Party chairman Anna Turley said: ‘Nigel Farage can’t get his story straight. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to say whether he racially abused people in the past.

‘So far, he’s claimed he can’t remember, that it’s not true, that he never “directly” abused anyone, that he was responsible for “offensive banter”, and deflected by saying other people were racist too.

‘Instead of shamelessly demanding apologies from others, Nigel Farage should be apologising to the victims of his alleged appalling remarks.’

A Conservative spokesman said Mr Farage’s tirade showed ‘Reform’s one-man band is in chaos once again.’

The spokesman added: ‘Nigel Farage just called a press conference and used it to rant at journalists over historic allegations of racism and antisemitism – allegations he has just admitted are true.

‘Farage is too busy furiously defending himself to defend democracy from the Labour Party’s elections delays.’