🔗 Share this article

The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his alleged conduct. He commented that the leader's "shifting" denials had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Surface

A published report last month detailed the testimony of several ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me 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 come forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either victims of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were misremembering.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also reference his reluctance to sanction a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he has to address the fears of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his position in an discussion, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”