Nigel Farage condemned for ‘exploiting’ murder of Henry Nowak
Main party leaders united on Wednesday to condemn Nigel Farage, accusing him of using the murder of Henry Nowak as “harmful identity politics”.
Sir Keir Starmer said the Reform leader’s actions were “inexcusable” and accused him of “merely pretending” to sympathize with the teenager’s family, who specifically called for their son’s death not to be used to sow division.
Mr Farage was mocked and heckled by MPs in parliament for ignoring police demands to condemn violent scenes at a demonstration organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson to protest the stabbing of Nowak.
Mr Farage instead appeared to encourage further protests, saying the unrest in Southampton was “just the beginning”.
It follows public horror over police footage showing Mr Nowak’s final moments as he was handcuffed by police and the killer’s brother rejected calls for help because he falsely claimed the victim had staged a racist attack.
The result came as follows:
In tense scenes at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Farage stood up to continue his calls for “cold anger” over Nowak’s murder and police actions.
He said it was “now clear to millions of people that we live under two tiers of police rule in this country” and claimed that the instructions given to police officers were clear: “You must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.”
But as MPs from across the house shouted their anger, Sir Keir responded: “Using this tragedy to create victimization and division would be wrong in any case, but to do so when the family has clearly said ‘Please don’t’ is inexcusable.”
He had previously thanked Kemi Badenoch for her “measured approach and tone regarding the tragic Henry Nowak case”.
He said: “The circumstances surrounding Henry’s wrongful arrest and tragic murder should be a wake-up call to our whole country and institutions that every life matters, and it is the responsibility of everyone in this House to bring people together, not divide them.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey noted: “Outside the court, Henry’s father made a strong case that his son’s murder should not be used to create further division, but rather to address knife crime as a national emergency.”
He suggested Mr Farage was using the tragedy as “political football”.
Alexis Boon, chief constable of Hampshire Constabulary, warned: “What people don’t see and don’t understand is that because of the divisive rhetoric out there, innocent police officers within my force are being targeted with threats (and) their families (and) social media abuse.
“This is quite incredible, completely unacceptable. We are investigating this, but this is symptomatic of people using an absolutely horrific tragedy to further their own agenda and make unacceptable threats.”
Jas Singh, chief advisor to the UK Sikh Federation, said: Independent There was “politicization of this cause by the Far Right, Restoration and Reform,” adding: “They have inflamed the cause and are dragging the Sikh community as a whole into this, which is extremely irresponsible.”
But with the Makerfield by-election due to take place on June 18, Reform are believed to be hoping the issue will go against Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, the Labor candidate who wants to replace Sir Keir as prime minister if he returns to the House of Commons.
The constituency in the Wigan area is 96.7 per cent white working class and Reform won all the seats in the last local elections. Unlike Gorton and Denton, where the Greens recently won another by-election, Makerfield has a small Asian population, making up just 1.2 per cent of the constituency.
Lord Hayward told Independent: “Labor MPs are right to be worried, this by-election will be very competitive. The Nowak case will definitely have an impact.”
Separately, Ms Badenoch said the police handling of the case “must be a seminal moment for Britain on par with the murder of Stephen Lawrence”.
He said “harmful identity politics” was dragging the country “backward,” criticizing politicians for taking a knee during Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd was killed while being restrained by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020.
And he criticized Mr Farage for saying “the rights and privileges of white people are less important than the rights and privileges of ethnic minorities”.
Meanwhile, Hampshire Chief Constable Alexis Boon reiterated his force’s apology to the Nowak family and insisted his force understood the public’s anger.
“I want to say to the family, we understand, we understand, we know why they are so distraught and upset, that’s why we apologized.
“It’s a tragedy from start to finish and I’m really happy to see the killer sentenced to life imprisonment.
“I’m so sorry they had to go through this, and we understand why they’re upset with the police. We totally understand that.”
But he said his team was dealing with an “incredible” level of harassment following the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa and would investigate online harassment that included “threats to life and threats of harm”.
