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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his alleged conduct. He commented that the leader's "shifting" denials had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month outlined the testimony of several ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "came up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have emerged; around two dozen people have now stated they were either subject to or saw deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his inability to sanction a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Suggesting that 20 people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, 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 principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in society.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also not to say something,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later put out a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”