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The United Kingdom's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has called on the Reform UK leader to issue an apology to former schoolmates who claim he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer stated that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his actions as a youth. He added that the leader's "evolving" explanations had been unconvincing.

“Throughout his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A recent investigation last month detailed the statements of several ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

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

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

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That included me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either victims of or saw highly inappropriate actions by Farage.

The behaviour they described span the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

The Reform leader has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the individuals were not telling the truth.

Commentators have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also reference his failure to discipline a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later said sorry for the comments.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer commented.

He added: “Arguing that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for high office, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer concluded.

“Prejudice in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become accepted in public life.”

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

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would identify as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the report, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an appearance, remarking: “Did I say things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely attempted 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 reported as a 13-year-old, nearly 50 years ago.”