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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 allege he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his actions as a youth. He added that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been less than credible.

“In his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A recent investigation last month outlined the testimony of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "came up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil flanked by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘Go back that way,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has rejected that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were misremembering.

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

They also cite his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the statements.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for the top job, he urgently needs address the concerns of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a certain style to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In legal letters prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He commented that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently released a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”