Top Law Officer Calls On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic and Racist Behaviour.
The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.
Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He commented that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been less than credible.
“In his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.
Fresh Claims Emerge
A series of inquiries last month documented the testimony of several former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.
One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to 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 student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a older Farage.
“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”
After the story broke, additional individuals have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either subject to or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.
The behaviour they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.
Denials and Shifting Positions
The political figure has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were being untruthful.
Critics have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.
They also point to his failure to discipline a party member, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the comments.
“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.
He added: “Suggesting that a group of people have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."
Demand for Accountability
“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs address the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.
“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in society.”
In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a genuine 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 communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.
Legal Letters and Later Statements
In formal correspondence before the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.
Farage later altered his position in an interview, saying: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”
He commented that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later released a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, decades in the past.”