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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been difficult to believe.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A recent investigation last month detailed the testimony of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

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

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either victims of or observed hurtful conduct by Farage.

The incidents they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the individuals were being untruthful.

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

They also cite his inability to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Arguing that 20 people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he has to confront the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“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 written in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”