🔗 Share this article

The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his past behaviour. He noted that the leader's "evolving" denials had been difficult to believe.

“During his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

New Allegations Emerge

A published report last month documented the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either victims of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they outlined span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were being untruthful.

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

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a party member, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Arguing that 20 people have all forgotten 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 prime minister, he has to confront the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “never directly sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards released a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”