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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "shifting" denials had been unconvincing.

“In his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either victims of or saw deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The incidents they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

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

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

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

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that 20 people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he urgently needs address the anxieties 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 completely opposed to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to 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 completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his position in an interview, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”