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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 former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "shifting" statements had been less than credible.

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

Fresh Claims Emerge

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; around two dozen people have now stated they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the accusers were misremembering.

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

They also reference his failure to discipline a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

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

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must address the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an interview, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”