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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has demanded the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "constantly changing" explanations had been unconvincing.

“In his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Surface

A published report last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described 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 mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, more people have stepped forward; about 20 people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were misremembering.

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

They also reference his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the remarks.

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

He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he must confront the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the principles of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”