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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

“During his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate 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 older Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either victims of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they described span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were misremembering.

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

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

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

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he has to confront the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an appearance, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”