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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim 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 commented that the politician's "evolving" statements had been difficult to believe.

“During his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ 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 stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were not telling the truth.

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also cite his inability to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs address the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, so long ago.”