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The United Kingdom's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "shifting" statements had been unconvincing.

“During his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That included me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either victims of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were being untruthful.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also point to his inability to discipline a party member, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he must address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a specific manner to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He said that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”