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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“During his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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 with two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were not telling the truth.

Critics have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also reference his inability to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Claiming that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he urgently needs address the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a genuine leader.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards released a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, so long ago.”