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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“In his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

New Allegations Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the statements of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate 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 older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have emerged; about 20 people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The alleged events they recounted span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Observers have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also reference his inability to sanction a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

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

He added: “Claiming that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for prime minister, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in society.”

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes 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 say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”