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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "shifting" statements had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

New Allegations Surface

A series of inquiries last month outlined the statements of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

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

Following the initial report, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they described span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were being untruthful.

Commentators have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also cite his failure to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Arguing that two dozen individuals have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his offensive behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wishes to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a certain style to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led such conduct is strongly rejected”.

Farage later appeared to change his explanation in an appearance, remarking: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”