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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He commented that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been less than credible.

“Throughout his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also cite his failure to reprimand a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks 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 Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Arguing that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in politics.”

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

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a modern light today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”