🔗 Share this article

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

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

“During his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A recent investigation last month documented the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

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

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

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in public life.”

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a certain style to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”