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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He commented that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Emerge

A recent investigation last month documented the accounts of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old 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 gas showers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, more people have come forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw deeply offensive actions by Farage.

The alleged events they described span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

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

They also point to his failure to reprimand a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he urgently needs confront the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“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 drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, remarking: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported aged 13, decades in the past.”