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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

“Throughout his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the statements of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either subject to or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were misremembering.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a party member, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he has to confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in society.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his stance in an discussion, remarking: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”