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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He commented that the leader's "shifting" denials had been unconvincing.

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

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

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

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

“He walked up to a pupil with two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have emerged; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either victims of or saw deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were being untruthful.

Observers have noted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his denials.

They also reference his failure to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the remarks.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He added: “Claiming that 20 people have somehow forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

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

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

In a different discussion, a senior politician said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being written in a particular way to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the release of the report, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an discussion, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “never directly attempted to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”