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The United Kingdom's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "evolving" statements had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

New Allegations Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month documented the statements of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive actions by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were misremembering.

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Arguing that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he has to confront the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would understand as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage later released a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”