🔗 Share this article

The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his past behaviour. He noted that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

“Throughout his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

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

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The behaviour they described relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Observers have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Suggesting that a group of people have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”