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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his actions as a youth. He commented that the politician's "evolving" statements had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month detailed the testimony of several former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour 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 with two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either subject to or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

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

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

They also reference his inability to sanction a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Arguing that 20 people have all forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for prime minister, he urgently needs confront the anxieties of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a particular way to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently released a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”