🔗 Share this article

The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been unconvincing.

“During his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Surface

A published report last month outlined the accounts of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or witnesses to hurtful actions by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were being untruthful.

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also point to his failure to reprimand a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Arguing that a group of people have all forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he has to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as 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 understand as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage later issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”