Nigel Farage urged to apologise over alleged schoolboy racism by UK’s prime lawyer
Richard Hermer, the Attorney General, who is Jewish, said Nigel Farage’s alleged comments had ‘clearly deeply hurt’ people and called for him to apologise
Nigel Farage has been urged to apologise for alleged racist comments he made as a schoolboy by the UK’s top lawyer.
Richard Hermer, the Attorney General, who is Jewish, said Mr Farage’s alleged comments had “clearly deeply hurt” people. It comes after around 20 people claimed they were either victims of or witnessed the Reform UK leader’s offensive behaviour when he was aged 13 to 18.
Speaking about Mr Farage’s response to the claims, Lord Hermer told the Guardian: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible. Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions put to him, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism.
“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he urgently needs to address the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour.
“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in public life.”
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Mr Farage has dismissed the claims, from decades ago – and insisted he would never racially abuse people in a “hurtful or insulting way“. Reform UK has categorically denied the claims and claimed the allegations are part of a smear campaign against the party leader.
More than a dozen former classmates from Mr Farage’s time at Dulwich College, in south London, alleged that Mr Farage made pro-Hitler comments, joked about gas chambers, and put someone in detention for the colour of their skin.
Award winning director and producer Peter Ettedgui, who was 13 at the time, told The Guardian last month that the Reform leader would tell him “Hitler was right”, or “Gas them” before adding a hiss to replicate the sound of the gas chambers.
Another former pupil, who was not named, described being in a youth organisation called the CCF, during which they claimed Farage had taught songs about gassing Jews.
Patrick Neylan, 61, an editor, who was in the year below Farage, also recalled the singing of the “gas ’em” song on CCF camps. Tim France, 61, was in the same year as Mr Farage and claimed he would “regularly” perform the Nazi “Seig heil” salute.
Last month, Keir Starmer accused Nigel Farage of being “spineless” when it comes to dealing with racism. And last week, the PM said Mr Farage should apologise following accusations of racism at his top private school.
The PM said Mr Farage’s explanation “in response to stories on what he might have said in the past, is not convincing to say the least”.
“He says he never engaged with racism with ‘intent’. What does that mean? didn’t engage with racism with ‘intent’. I have no doubt that if a young Jewish student was hissed at, to mimic the sound of a gas chamber, they would find it upsetting. He may want to forget it, they won’t.
“He clearly remembers some of what happened, he should seek those people out and go and apologise to them.”
Last week, Mr Farage said: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published in the Guardian aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.
“Isn’t it interesting: I am probably the most scrutinised figure in British politics, having been in public life for 32 years. Several books and thousands of stories have been written about me, but it is only now that my party is leading in the polls that these allegations come out. I will leave the public to draw their own conclusions about why that might be…
“We know that the Guardian wants to smear anybody who talks about the immigration issue. But the truth is that I have done more in my career to defeat extremism and far-right politics than anybody else in the UK, from my time fighting the BNP right up to today. “
The day before, when asked to categorically state that he did not racially abuse fellow pupils at school, he said: “I would never, ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way.”
The interviewer said: “That’s not quite the same as not doing it.” Mr Farage retorted: “It’s 49 years ago. It’s 49 years.” Asked what difference that made, he said: “I had just entered my teens. Can I remember everything that happened to school? No, I can’t. Have I ever been part of an extremist organisation or engaged in direct, unpleasant personal abuse, genuine abuse on that basis? No.”
