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

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He noted that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Surface

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "came 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 Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they described relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were being untruthful.

Critics have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Arguing that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he must acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as 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 particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an interview, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”