🔗 Share this article

The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

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

“During his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the statements of several former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate 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 approached a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either subject to or witnesses to deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were misremembering.

Critics have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also cite his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

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

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he has to address the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in politics.”

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

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things as a youth that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, so long ago.”