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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 "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

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

Fresh Claims Surface

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”.

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 spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Since then, more people have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either victims of or saw hurtful conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were misremembering.

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

They also cite his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the remarks.

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

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he urgently needs address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being drafted in a certain style to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being banter, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”