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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

“In his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

New Allegations Emerge

A recent investigation last month outlined the testimony of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were misremembering.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

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

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

He added: “Arguing that a group of people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for prime minister, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, saying: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage later released 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.”