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The United Kingdom's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who allege he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He commented that the politician's "evolving" denials had been unconvincing.

“In his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

New Allegations Surface

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

Another pupil from an ethnic minority alleged that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the individual said. “That happened to me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have come forward; about 20 people have now claimed they were either targets of or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Changing Stories

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were misremembering.

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

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the remarks.

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

He added: “Suggesting that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he has to address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the those he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“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 written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things as a youth that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Yes.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”