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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "constantly changing" statements had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the accounts of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, others have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to hurtful conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they described cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were being untruthful.

Critics have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also reference his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the comments.

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

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

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he has to address the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being drafted in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”