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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He commented that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

“In his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

New Allegations Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, others have come forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive actions by Farage.

The alleged events they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Critics have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

They also point to his inability to discipline a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage later released 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.”