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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his alleged conduct. He noted that the politician's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

New Allegations Surface

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have come forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either victims of or saw highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were not telling the truth.

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

They also reference his failure to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He went on to say: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

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

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his stance in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”