Top Law Officer Demands Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.

The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries 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.

“Throughout his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Surface

A series of inquiries last month outlined the statements of several ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

Another student of colour alleged that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either victims of or observed highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they described relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Observers have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his inability to discipline a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he has to confront the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage later put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”

Andrew May
Andrew May

A tech strategist and innovation consultant with over a decade of experience in Silicon Valley and global markets.