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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "evolving" statements had been less than credible.

“Throughout his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Surface

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have come forward; about 20 people have now alleged they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were misremembering.

Observers have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his denials.

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

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

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs confront the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an appearance, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”