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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "shifting" statements had been difficult to believe.

“During his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A recent investigation last month detailed the statements of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

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

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

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

They also reference his inability to reprimand a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the remarks.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he must acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in public life.”

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage later issued a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, decades in the past.”