🔗 Share this article

The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his actions as a youth. He commented that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been difficult to believe.

“In his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

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, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have come forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either victims of or saw deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were not telling the truth.

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

They also cite his reluctance to sanction a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage later released a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”