🔗 Share this article

The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Surface

A recent investigation last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” 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 wherever you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either targets of or observed highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were being untruthful.

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also cite his failure to sanction a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he has to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in society.”

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his position in an interview, stating: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”