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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his past behaviour. He noted that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the statements of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, others have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his inability to sanction a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he has to acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being written in a specific manner to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the report, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an appearance, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later issued a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”