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

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" statements had been difficult to believe.

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

New Allegations Emerge

A recent investigation last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either subject to or witnesses to hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

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

Observers have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have all forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wishes to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he must confront the fears of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being drafted in a particular way to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an interview, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”