Top Law Officer Calls On Reform UK Leader to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.

The United Kingdom's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“During his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A published report last month documented the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either targets of or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were misremembering.

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

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

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

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

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

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

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the report, Farage’s representatives stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

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 way? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, so long ago.”