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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been difficult to believe.

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

New Allegations Emerge

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, others have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his responses.

They also point to his inability to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, 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 evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he urgently needs confront the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his position in an interview, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage later released a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”