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The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who claim he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "shifting" statements had been less than credible.

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

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A published report last month documented the testimony of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was about nine, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have emerged; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either targets of or saw deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

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

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were not telling the truth.

Commentators have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also reference his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he must acknowledge the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in society.”

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

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his stance in an discussion, saying: “Did I say things as a youth that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a modern light today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”