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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his actions as a youth. He commented that the leader's "constantly changing" statements had been difficult to believe.

“During his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A published report last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

Another student of colour claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have emerged; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

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

They also reference his failure to discipline a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

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

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being written in a specific manner to communicate, but also not to say something,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, remarking: “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? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, so long ago.”