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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "evolving" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Fresh Claims Surface

A published report last month detailed the testimony of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil with two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have stepped forward; about 20 people have now alleged they were either victims of or observed deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they described span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his position in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”