🔗 Share this article

The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

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

Further Testimonies Surface

A series of inquiries last month outlined the testimony of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Since then, more people have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either subject to or witnesses to hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his responses.

They also cite his inability to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Arguing that 20 people have all forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must confront the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards released a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”