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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who claim he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" explanations 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 Emerge

A recent investigation last month detailed the testimony of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He approached a pupil with two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either subject to or saw deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they described cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has denied that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were misremembering.

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

They also point to his reluctance to discipline a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

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

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine 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 drafted in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his position in an appearance, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later put out a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”