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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 assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Fresh Claims Surface

A series of inquiries last month detailed the statements of several former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, others have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either victims of or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the accusers were misremembering.

Observers have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also point to his inability to sanction a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

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

He added: “Suggesting that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his position in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”