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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "constantly changing" denials had been difficult to believe.

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

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month detailed the statements of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That included me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either subject to or saw highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were misremembering.

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a certain style to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”