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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 racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his alleged conduct. He commented that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been unconvincing.

“During his defensive responses to valid inquiries, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer told a news outlet.

Fresh Claims Come to Light

A series of inquiries last month detailed the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from a private college.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "came up to me and growl: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

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

“He approached a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘different’,” the individual said. “That included me on three separate times; asking me where I was from, and gesturing, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you replied you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; around two dozen people have now stated they were either subject to or observed deeply offensive past behaviour by Farage.

The incidents they outlined span the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Denials and Shifting Positions

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

Critics have pointed out that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism outright in his statements.

They also reference his inability to discipline a party member, Sarah Pochin, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his schoolmates [is] hard to believe, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that two dozen individuals have somehow forgotten the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Question of Character

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he urgently needs address the concerns of the Jewish community, and apologise to the those he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Racism in all its forms is abhorrent to the standards of this country and we should not let it to ever become normalised in politics.”

In a different discussion, the Chancellor said Farage should “speak out” if he wanted to be considered a true statesman.

“It speaks volumes 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 communicate, but also avoid saying certain things,” she said.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In lawyers' communications prior to the release of the report, Farage’s legal team stated that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his explanation in an discussion, saying: “Have I said things decades ago that you could view as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a modern light today in some way? Possibly.”

He said that he had “never directly attempted to go and hurt 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, so long ago.”