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

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

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

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have come forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either victims of or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were not telling the truth.

Observers have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

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

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He went on to say: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how very 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 say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an interview, saying: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”