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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 assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their testimonies of his alleged conduct. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" explanations had been difficult to believe.

“During his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

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

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That included me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either victims of or witnesses to highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The alleged events they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were being untruthful.

Critics have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

They also point to his failure to discipline a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the statements.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his offensive behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he urgently needs acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is anathema to the principles of this country and we should not let it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would recognise as being written in a certain style to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led this behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his position in an interview, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “never directly attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, decades in the past.”