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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He noted that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A published report last month documented the statements of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either victims of or observed hurtful actions by Farage.

The alleged events they described cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were misremembering.

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

They also cite his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in society.”

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

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being written in a specific manner to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the report, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He added that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”