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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Surface

A series of inquiries last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

Another student of colour claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the person said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they described relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also point to his inability to sanction a party member, 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 constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Suggesting that a group of people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot 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 communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his position in an appearance, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, so long ago.”