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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "evolving" denials had been difficult to believe.

“In his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now claimed they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were misremembering.

Critics have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also point to his failure to sanction a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the comments.

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

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

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he urgently needs address the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a certain style to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an interview, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”