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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been unconvincing.

“Throughout his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

New Allegations Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month documented the statements of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He approached a pupil with two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The incidents they described relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were misremembering.

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also reference his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

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

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

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” 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 recognise as being crafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his position in an appearance, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”