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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

“During his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

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

After the story broke, more people have come forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Observers have noted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

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

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Arguing that a group of people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he urgently needs acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, 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 principles of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a separate interview, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change 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? Yes.”

He said that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”