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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader 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, according to their accounts of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "evolving" statements had been less than credible.

“During his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A published report last month documented the statements of several ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came 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 pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The incidents they outlined relate to 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 asserted the individuals were not telling the truth.

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

They also point to his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs confront the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, so long ago.”