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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "evolving" statements had been difficult to believe.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A published report last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either subject to or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were not telling the truth.

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

They also point to his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

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

He added: “Arguing that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he must confront the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice 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 genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being drafted 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 release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an discussion, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later put out a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”