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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "evolving" statements had been less than credible.

“During his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the accounts of several former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That included me on three separate times; questioning 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 victims of or observed highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

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

Commentators have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also point to his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he must address the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being written in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his stance in an interview, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”