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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 assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been difficult to believe.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A published report last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That included me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have come forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they described relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his inability to discipline a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the remarks.

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

He continued: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for prime minister, he must address the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”