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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who claim he racially abused them during their years in education.

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

“In his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month detailed the statements of several former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, 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 ‘different’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were being untruthful.

Observers have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also reference his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Suggesting that a group of people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he must acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently released a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”