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The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his alleged conduct. He commented that the leader's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A recent investigation last month detailed the testimony of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

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

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed 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 equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Since then, others have emerged; about 20 people have now claimed they were either targets of or observed hurtful conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they described span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Critics have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also cite his failure to reprimand a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a specific manner to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, saying: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”