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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded 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 said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been less than credible.

“In his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Emerge

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of several former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach me and say: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either victims of or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The incidents they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also reference his reluctance to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the comments.

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

He continued: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s representatives stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”