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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who claim he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his actions as a youth. He commented that the politician's "evolving" denials had been difficult to believe.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A recent investigation last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was about nine, 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 ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either subject to or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they recounted span the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the individuals were being untruthful.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also point to his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He continued: “Arguing that a group of people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those 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 must not permit it to ever become accepted in politics.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like 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 written in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his stance in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out 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.”