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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Surface

A recent investigation last month documented the testimony of several ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

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

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now claimed they were either victims of or observed deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Commentators have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also reference his failure to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

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

He continued: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for prime minister, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in politics.”

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an discussion, remarking: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, so long ago.”