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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month outlined the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and say: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas showers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil with two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the former student said. “That included me on three separate times; inquiring where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

After the story broke, others have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or saw deeply offensive actions by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

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

They also cite his inability to sanction a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later expressed regret for the comments.

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

He went on to say: “Suggesting that a group of people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he must confront the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the principles of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become legitimised in politics.”

In a other comments, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a real leader.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being written in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led this behaviour is strongly rejected”.

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

He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a new statement: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been reported aged 13, nearly 50 years ago.”