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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his alleged conduct. He added that the politician's "shifting" denials had been unconvincing.

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

New Allegations Come to Light

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a teenage 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 simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to any place you replied you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have stepped forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The behaviour they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also cite his reluctance to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for prime minister, he has to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

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

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being written in a particular way to communicate, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers asserted that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his stance in an appearance, saying: “Have I said things as a youth that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Yes.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed aged 13, decades in the past.”