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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "evolving" denials had been unconvincing.

“Throughout his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Fresh Claims Surface

A recent investigation last month outlined the statements of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have stepped forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were misremembering.

Observers have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also point to his failure to discipline a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs address the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being written in a specific manner to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”