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The UK's attorney general, Richard Hermer, has called on Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who claim he racially abused them during their time at school.

Hermer remarked that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, judging by their accounts of his alleged conduct. He noted that the leader's "evolving" statements had been unconvincing.

“In his answers to valid inquiries, not once has Farage actually condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a publication.

Further Testimonies Surface

A published report last month detailed the accounts of more than a dozen former classmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘send them to the gas chambers’, sometimes adding 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 ‘other’,” the former student said. “That included me on three occasions; questioning me where I was from, and motioning, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have come forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either targets of or witnesses to highly inappropriate conduct by Farage.

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

Denials and Shifting Positions

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "blatantly" racist or antisemitic, and has asserted the accusers were misremembering.

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

They also point to his reluctance to reprimand a colleague in his party, a MP, after she expressed views about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later expressed regret for the comments.

“His shifting account about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer said.

He went on to say: “Claiming that a group of people have somehow misremembered the same things about his nasty behaviour simply is not believable."

Call for Leadership

“If he wants to be seen as a legitimate candidate for the top job, he has to address the concerns of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the numerous individuals he has clearly deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Bigotry in all its forms is abhorrent to the values of this country and we must not permit it to ever become normalised in society.”

In a separate interview, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a real leader.

“It speaks volumes how little he has to say, and the guarded phrasing that both you and I would understand as being crafted in a particular way to communicate, but also dodge the issue,” she noted.

Legal Letters and Later Statements

In legal letters prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, approved of, or led this behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an discussion, stating: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Possibly.”

He added that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and harm anybody”. Farage subsequently released a new statement: “I can tell you unequivocally that I did not say the things that have been printed as a 13-year-old, so long ago.”