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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Fresh Claims Surface

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil with two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Since then, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either victims of or observed hurtful actions by Farage.

The behaviour they described cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the former classmates were being untruthful.

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

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the statements.

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

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he must address the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a separate interview, the Chancellor 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 understand as being crafted in a particular way to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an interview, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

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