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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He added that the leader's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

“In his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

New Allegations Emerge

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

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were not telling the truth.

Observers have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his failure to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that 20 people have all forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

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

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

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as 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 written in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an appearance, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported aged 13, decades in the past.”