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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "evolving" denials had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A published report last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

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

“He came over to a pupil with two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; inquiring where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

After the story broke, additional individuals have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either victims of or saw hurtful actions by Farage.

The incidents they outlined relate to the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the individuals were misremembering.

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also point to his failure to discipline a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the remarks.

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

He added: “Suggesting that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his offensive behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

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

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters before the release of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, approved of, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his stance in an interview, remarking: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some way? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently issued a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, so long ago.”