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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A published report last month documented the statements of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

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

After the story broke, additional individuals have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either victims of or witnesses to hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they described 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 suggested the individuals were being untruthful.

Critics have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his responses.

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Arguing that a group of people have somehow forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he must acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in society.”

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

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words 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 prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, so long ago.”