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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his alleged conduct. He noted that the politician's "shifting" denials had been difficult to believe.

“During his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Surface

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

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled 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 simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

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

Since then, others have come forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

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

Observers have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his reluctance to reprimand a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Suggesting that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he has to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a certain style to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, supported, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his stance in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”