🔗 Share this article

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 time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Emerge

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘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 pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have come forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were being untruthful.

Observers have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his denials.

They also cite his inability to discipline a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he has to address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”