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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 assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He noted that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been difficult to believe.

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

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, described 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 gas showers”.

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were misremembering.

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

They also reference his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

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

He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he must acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”