Attorney General Urges Reform UK Leader to Say Sorry Over Claimed Racism and Antisemitism.

The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" statements had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Surface

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

After the story broke, others have emerged; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either targets of or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were misremembering.

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

They also cite his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the statements.

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

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

Call for Leadership

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

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the report, Farage’s representatives stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an interview, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, decades in the past.”