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The United Kingdom's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "evolving" denials had been unconvincing.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month documented the statements of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or observed hurtful actions by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

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

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

They also reference his inability to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he has to acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

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

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

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