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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

“In his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the testimony of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the person said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were not telling the truth.

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

They also cite his inability to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry 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: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in politics.”

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

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards released a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”