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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“During his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

New Allegations Emerge

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you said you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either targets of or saw hurtful conduct by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

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.

Observers have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also reference his inability to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he has to confront the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later released a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”