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The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the leader's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“During his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A recent investigation last month documented the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ 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 roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either victims of or witnesses to deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they described relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also reference his failure to discipline a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Suggesting that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He added that he had “never directly sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”