🔗 Share this article

The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been unconvincing.

“During his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

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

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have come forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either subject to or saw hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his responses.

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the comments.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he has to address the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a certain style to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an interview, saying: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage later issued a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, so long ago.”