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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

“During his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; asking 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, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either subject to or saw highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Commentators have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also point to his inability to discipline a party member, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

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

He continued: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he must address the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is completely opposed to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in politics.”

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

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, 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 view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”