Attorney General Urges Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.

The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "evolving" statements had been less than credible.

“Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either victims of or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they described relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were being untruthful.

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

They also reference his inability to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a genuine 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 written in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”

Sarah Guzman
Sarah Guzman

A data scientist and betting strategist with over a decade of experience in sports analytics and predictive modeling.