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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to issue an apology to school contemporaries who allege he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his past behaviour. He commented that the politician's "constantly changing" denials had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A published report last month detailed the accounts of over a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from a south London school.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "came up to me and say: ‘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 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 approached a pupil flanked by two equally tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you said you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or observed deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The alleged events they recounted relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have noted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also cite his inability to sanction a colleague in his party, Sarah Pochin, after she made remarks about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later said sorry for the statements.

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

He added: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he aspires to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he urgently needs acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

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

In a different discussion, Rachel Reeves said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to appear as a genuine leader.

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

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s lawyers stated that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is strongly rejected”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an interview, stating: “Did I say things decades ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been reported as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”