Attorney General Demands Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.

The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

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

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month detailed the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

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

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either victims of or saw hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The alleged events they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have pointed out that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his denials.

They also reference his inability to discipline a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in politics.”

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

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his stance in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “never directly sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”