Attorney General Demands Reform UK Leader to Apologise Over Reported Racism and Antisemitism.

The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

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

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

New Allegations Surface

A published report last month outlined the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive actions by Farage.

The alleged events they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

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

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also cite his failure to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

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

He went on to say: “Claiming that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he must address the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his position in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”