🔗 Share this article Top Law Officer Demands Reform UK Leader to Say Sorry Over Alleged Racism and Antisemitism. The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days. Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been less than credible. “During his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet. Fresh Claims Surface A published report last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school. One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”. Another student of colour alleged that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage. “He walked up to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you said you were from.” Following the initial report, others have emerged; about 20 people have now alleged they were either subject to or saw deeply offensive actions by Farage. The alleged events they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager. Changing Stories The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were misremembering. Commentators have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials. They also cite his failure to discipline 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 expressed regret for the comments. “His shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated. He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable." Demand for Accountability “If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must address the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said. “Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in politics.” In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader. “It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being written in a certain style to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked. Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”. Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Yes.” He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”