🔗 Share this article

The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

“Throughout his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Surface

A recent investigation last month detailed the statements of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student 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 replied you were from.”

Since then, others have come forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either victims of or saw hurtful actions by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

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

Critics have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also reference his inability to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the statements.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He added: “Suggesting that 20 people have all forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he must acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

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

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an appearance, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”