Attorney General Urges Reform UK Leader to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.

The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been unconvincing.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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

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

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

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

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

He continued: “Arguing that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he must acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”