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The UK's attorney general, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has demanded Nigel Farage to apologise to former schoolmates who allege he targeted with racist abuse them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, according to their descriptions of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "shifting" explanations had been difficult to believe.

“During his answers to legitimate questions, not once has Farage genuinely condemned antisemitism,” Hermer stated to a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A series of inquiries last month documented the statements of more than a dozen one-time schoolmates of Farage from a south London school.

One, a former pupil, recalled that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to 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 minority ethnic pupil stated that when he was about nine, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He walked up to a pupil accompanied by two tall mates and spoke to anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; asking me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, others have stepped forward; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or saw highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Changing Stories

The political figure has denied that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism more broadly in his responses.

They also reference his failure to discipline a party member, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the comments.

“Nigel Farage’s constantly changing story about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Suggesting that a group of people have all recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Question of Character

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for prime minister, he has to acknowledge the anxieties of the Jewish community, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is completely opposed to the standards of this country and we cannot allow it to ever become normalised in society.”

In a separate interview, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” if he wanted to look like a genuine leader.

“It says a lot how little he has to say, and the precisely drafted words that both you and I would identify as being crafted in a specific manner to say something, but also not to say something,” she said.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters before the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever engaged in, supported, or led such conduct is completely refuted”.

Farage later altered his stance in an interview, stating: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being banter, you could interpret in a today's standards today in a certain manner? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely sought to go and upset anybody”. Farage later put out a fresh denial: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been printed when I was 13, decades in the past.”