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

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "shifting" statements had been less than credible.

“In his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A published report last month outlined the statements of several ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either subject to or saw deeply offensive actions by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the accusers were being untruthful.

Critics have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

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

He added: “Suggesting that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he must address the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an appearance, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, decades in the past.”