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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who claim he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his actions as a youth. He noted that the politician's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

“During his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a publication.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A series of inquiries last month documented the testimony of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, described that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, occasionally including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another minority ethnic pupil alleged that when he was about nine, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two similarly tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That happened to 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, more people have emerged; approximately twenty people have now stated they were either targets of or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The incidents they recounted cover the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Changing Stories

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were misremembering.

Observers have pointed out that Farage has not managed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his denials.

They also cite his inability to sanction a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the statements.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his peers [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He added: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have all forgotten the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he must address the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the many people he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Racism in all its forms is anathema to the principles of this country and we should not let it to ever become accepted in public life.”

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a real leader.

“It says a lot how very little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would recognise as being crafted in a specific manner to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives claimed that “the suggestion that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later appeared to change his position in an appearance, stating: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and harm anybody”. Farage afterwards issued a further comment: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”