🔗 Share this article

The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

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

Fresh Claims Surface

A series of inquiries last month detailed the statements of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

Since then, others have come forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The incidents they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were not telling the truth.

Observers have pointed out that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also reference his failure to discipline a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the remarks.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He went on to say: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he must confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a certain style to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”