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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been unconvincing.

“During his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A published report last month documented the statements of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, others have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either victims of or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they described relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

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

Critics have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also cite his inability to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the statements.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have all forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

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

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being written in a certain style to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his position in an interview, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards released a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”