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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to apologise to school contemporaries who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his past behaviour. He noted that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been difficult to believe.

“Throughout his replies to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a news outlet.

Further Testimonies Come to Light

A published report last month documented the accounts of several ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, described that a 13-year-old Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate 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 older Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have come forward; approximately twenty people have now alleged they were either subject to or saw hurtful conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Changing Stories

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

Observers have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his statements.

They also reference his failure to sanction a party member, a MP, after she complained about the number of people of colour she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He added: “Suggesting that 20 people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he urgently needs confront the fears of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in public life.”

In a other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever was involved in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some sort of way? Yes.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely attempted to go and harm anybody”. Farage later issued a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago.”