🔗 Share this article

The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

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

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A recent investigation last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were being untruthful.

Critics have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also point to his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he must address the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a genuine leader.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”