Top Law Officer Calls On Reform UK Leader to Apologise Over Claimed Racism and Antisemitism.

The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Emerge

A published report last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, more people have emerged; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either subject to or saw hurtful conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his responses.

They also reference his inability to sanction a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views 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 Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

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

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “never directly attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage later issued 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.”