🔗 Share this article

The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“Throughout his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A series of inquiries last month outlined the testimony of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or saw deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were misremembering.

Critics have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also reference his failure to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“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 say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards released 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.”