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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "shifting" statements had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Further Testimonies Emerge

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

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have emerged; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either subject to or saw highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The alleged events they described relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

They also point to his inability to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Arguing that a group of people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

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 community, and say sorry to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted 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 is very telling how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a particular way to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

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

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”