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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

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

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month outlined the statements of several former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either targets of or saw deeply offensive actions by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were misremembering.

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his responses.

They also cite his inability to discipline a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he has to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in politics.”

In a separate interview, 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 understand as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

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 took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”