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

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "evolving" denials had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

New Allegations Emerge

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

One, Peter Ettedgui, described 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 imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That included me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

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

They also point to his failure to discipline a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the statements.

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

He continued: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

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

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, so long ago.”