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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his actions as a youth. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been difficult to believe.

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

New Allegations Surface

A recent investigation last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ 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 stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either victims of or witnesses to highly inappropriate past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were being untruthful.

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also cite his reluctance to sanction a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have all forgotten the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he must address the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being drafted in a certain style to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his explanation in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, decades in the past.”