🔗 Share this article

The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "shifting" statements had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Surface

A series of inquiries last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either victims of or witnesses to highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The incidents they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were being untruthful.

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

They also reference his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become legitimised in public life.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a particular way to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage later issued a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”