🔗 Share this article

The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He commented that the leader's "shifting" denials had been unconvincing.

“During his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

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

Critics have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his denials.

They also cite his reluctance to discipline a party member, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the statements.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Suggesting that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he urgently needs acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an appearance, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”