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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 allege he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He commented that the politician's "evolving" statements had been difficult to believe.

“During his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

New Allegations Emerge

A published report last month outlined the testimony of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have come forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive actions by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were not telling the truth.

Observers have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also reference his reluctance to discipline a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the comments.

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

He continued: “Claiming that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he must confront the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a particular way to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “never directly attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage later released a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”