🔗 Share this article Top Law Officer Urges Reform UK Leader to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour. The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their school days. Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been unconvincing. “Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet. New Allegations Surface A recent investigation last month documented the statements of several ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College. One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”. Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage. “He approached a pupil flanked by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.” Since then, additional individuals have come forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to highly inappropriate actions by Farage. The incidents they described cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18. Denials and Shifting Positions The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the accusers were not telling the truth. Critics have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements. They also reference his inability to sanction a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments. “Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said. He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility." Call for Leadership “If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the fears 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 abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in society.” In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a real leader. “It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she noted. Legal Letters and Later Statements In legal letters prior to the release of the report, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”. Farage later altered his stance in an interview, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.” He commented that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, so long ago.”