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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "evolving" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the testimony of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making 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 came over to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they described cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were not telling the truth.

Critics have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also cite his failure to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the remarks.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that a group of people have somehow forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he urgently needs address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in society.”

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

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, saying: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage later issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”