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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been unconvincing.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

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

Critics have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the statements.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that 20 people have all forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an appearance, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, decades in the past.”