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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "shifting" denials had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, more people have come forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either subject to or witnesses to highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Observers have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also point to his failure to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

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

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

Demand for Accountability

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he must acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is completely opposed to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would recognise as being written in a certain style to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team asserted that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an interview, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, so long ago.”