🔗 Share this article

The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "evolving" denials had been unconvincing.

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

New Allegations Surface

A published report last month outlined the testimony of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they described cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the accusers were not telling the truth.

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also cite his inability to reprimand a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

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

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he has to confront the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise 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 cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor 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 guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, decades in the past.”