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The United Kingdom's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has urged Nigel Farage to issue an apology to former schoolmates who assert he racially abused them during their years in education.

Hermer stated that Farage had "clearly deeply hurt" many people, judging by their testimonies of his actions as a youth. He added that the politician's "evolving" denials had been less than credible.

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

Further Testimonies Emerge

A published report last month documented the accounts of more than a dozen ex-pupils of Farage from Dulwich College.

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’, at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the Nazi gas chambers”.

Another pupil from an ethnic minority claimed that when he was roughly nine years old, he was similarly targeted by a 17-year-old Farage.

“He came over to a pupil accompanied by two equally tall mates and targeted anyone looking ‘other’,” the person said. “That happened to me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That’s the way back,’ to any place you said you were from.”

Following the initial report, additional individuals have stepped forward; approximately twenty people have now claimed they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive conduct by Farage.

The behaviour they recounted span the period when Farage was aged between 13 and 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "directly" racist or antisemitic, and has claimed the accusers were not telling the truth.

Critics have highlighted that Farage has neglected to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his statements.

They also cite his reluctance to discipline a fellow Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, after she complained about the number of ethnic minorities she saw in adverts. She later apologised for the remarks.

“His evolving narrative about his behaviour to his Jewish classmates [is] not credible, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Arguing that 20 people have all misremembered the same things about his hurtful behaviour simply isn’t credible."

Demand for Accountability

“If he wishes to be seen as a credible figure for the top job, he urgently needs acknowledge the fears of the Jewish people, and say sorry to the many people he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer stated.

“Prejudice 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 other comments, a senior politician said Farage should “make a statement” 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 identify as being written in a particular way to say something, but also avoid saying certain things,” she remarked.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the release of the investigation, Farage’s representatives asserted that “the allegation that Mr Farage ever took part in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour is completely refuted”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an appearance, stating: “Did I say things 50 years ago that you could interpret as being teenage humour, you could interpret in a contemporary context today in some way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “never directly really tried to go and upset anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you definitely that I did not say the things that have been published as a 13-year-old, decades in the past.”