Top Law Officer Urges Reform UK Leader to Say Sorry Over Alleged Racism and Antisemitism.

The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He commented that the leader's "shifting" denials had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil stated that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, more people have come forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either victims of or observed hurtful conduct by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were misremembering.

Observers have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the statements.

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

He added: “Claiming that a group of people have all 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 address the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

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

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, decades in the past.”