Attorney General Urges Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.

The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "shifting" statements had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Emerge

A published report last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ 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 about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either subject to or witnesses to deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they outlined span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were misremembering.

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

They also point to his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Arguing that a group of people 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 prime minister, he must confront the anxieties 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 completely opposed to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in public life.”

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

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being written in a certain style to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an interview, stating: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards released a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”