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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 claim he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "shifting" statements had been unconvincing.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

New Allegations Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, recalled 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 mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, others have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or observed hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also reference his failure to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that 20 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 legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in politics.”

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

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being written in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a modern light today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”