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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

“In his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Surface

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

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to 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, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The alleged events they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

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

They also reference his failure to reprimand a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

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

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently released a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”