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The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who assert he targeted with racist abuse them during their years in education.

Hermer said that Farage had "undoubtedly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his past behaviour. He added that the leader's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

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

Fresh Claims Surface

A published report last month detailed the statements of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a private college.

One, Peter Ettedgui, recalled that a teenage Farage "would approach me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour stated that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a older Farage.

“He came over to a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Following the initial report, more people have come forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive actions by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Changing Stories

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

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

They also reference his inability to reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of people of colour she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He continued: “Claiming that 20 people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a serious contender for high office, he must confront the anxieties of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

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

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to look like a true statesman.

“It is very telling how very little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would identify as being written in a specific manner to say something, but also dodge the issue,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s representatives stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is categorically denied”.

Farage later altered his stance in an discussion, remarking: “Have I said things 50 years ago that you could view as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He added that he had “not once intentionally really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage afterwards put out a new statement: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”