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The UK's top law officer, Richard Hermer, has urged the Reform UK leader to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their time at school.

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

“In his replies to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Emerge

A published report last month documented the testimony of over a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, a former pupil, said that a 13-year-old Farage "would approach 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 Nazi gas chambers”.

Another student of colour claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was singled out by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He approached a pupil with two equally tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘other’,” the former student said. “That involved me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

After the story broke, more people have come forward; around two dozen people have now alleged they were either subject to or observed highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

The incidents they described relate to the period when Farage was aged a teenager.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Observers have highlighted 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 reprimand a fellow Reform MP, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the statements.

“His constantly changing story about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He continued: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Question of Character

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

“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 separate interview, Rachel Reeves 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 guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a certain style to communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In lawyers' communications before the release of the investigation, Farage’s legal team 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 position in an discussion, stating: “Have I said things decades ago that you could interpret as being playground talk, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “never directly sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”