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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He noted that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

“In his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A series of inquiries last month documented the accounts of several former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

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

Following the initial report, others have emerged; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed hurtful actions by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

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

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

They also reference his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the statements.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He added: “Arguing that a group of people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he urgently needs confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

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

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”