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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "shifting" denials had been less than credible.

“In his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Fresh Claims Surface

A published report last month detailed the testimony of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now claimed they were either targets of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were being untruthful.

Observers have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also point to his failure to sanction a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he must confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being drafted in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an appearance, remarking: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”