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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month outlined the testimony of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That included me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have come forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw hurtful conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also reference his inability to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Claiming that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he urgently needs address the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised 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 says a lot 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 say something, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He added that he had “never directly sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, so long ago.”