The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.
Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been unconvincing.
“In his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.
A published report last month detailed the testimony of several ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.
One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.
Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.
“He approached a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you said you were from.”
After the story broke, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.
The incidents they recounted span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.
The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were misremembering.
Commentators have pointed out that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.
They also cite his failure to sanction a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the statements.
“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.
He went on to say: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."
“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for prime minister, he must confront the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.
“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”
In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.
“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a specific manner to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.
In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.
Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Possibly.”
He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported aged 13, so long ago.”
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