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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "constantly changing" statements had been unconvincing.

“Throughout his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

New Allegations Come to Light

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

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

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

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, others have come forward; around two dozen people have now claimed they were either targets of or observed hurtful past behaviour by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have highlighted 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 discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s evolving narrative about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He added: “Arguing that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

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

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

“It speaks volumes how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an discussion, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Yes.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage later released a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported when I was 13, so long ago.”