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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "shifting" statements had been difficult to believe.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The incidents they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" 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 responses.

They also reference his reluctance to sanction a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

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

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he must confront the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in public life.”

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

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, saying: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”