🔗 Share this article

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

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

New Allegations Surface

A series of inquiries last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Since then, more people have stepped forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they recounted span the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

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

They also reference his failure to discipline a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he must acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”