Kemi Badenoch war of words with Nigel Farage in Henry Nowak murder row | Politics | News

Kemi Badenoch demanded an end to “tribalism” as she called on everyone to unite around a common British culture. The Conservative leader said “everyone” suffers from racism, including white people. Attacking Nigel Farage’s response to the murder of Henry Nowak, Ms Badenoch called for an end to the “racialisation of our society”.

He added: “Yes, we are multiracial, but we need to stop using race as a way to define the law… Let’s treat everyone equally.” Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 21 years, for stabbing 18-year-old Henry with a ceremonial knife. And Digwa claimed he was the victim of racist abuse. Police body camera footage shows officers handcuffing Mr. Nowak and ignoring allegations that he had been stabbed, with one even telling him, “I don’t think you have a friend.”

Ms Badenoch told Good Morning Britain: “We need to bring back common sense. You don’t need to be trained in racism or anti-racism to see what Henry is going through and know that he needs help. You don’t need that.”

“Something has gone wrong with policing, but we all need to take a good, long, hard look at ourselves. “It’s not just the police.

“I remember when this movement took place and I was saying that we create different rules for different people. Anyone who kneels for a dead man in another country should consider doing the same here.”

“We need to bring back equality before the law. What Nigel Farage is doing is reinforcing difference. I said we need to find what we have in common, not what divides us.”

“I don’t want to hear Black Lives Matter. I don’t want to hear White Lives Matter. We all matter. Enough of this bullshit where we keep dividing everyone and dividing people into different groups, we’re heading towards tribalism.

“I don’t want that. That’s why I say we should be a multi-ethnic country, not a multi-cultural country. Let’s have a common culture, let it be British culture.”

“It shouldn’t matter how the police treat everyone based on skin colour, and we shouldn’t pretend that racism is something that only happens to ethnic minorities and that it happens to everyone, black or white.”

Reform UK Nigel Farage has warned that “the rights and privileges of white people are less important than those of ethnic minorities” as anger erupted over police handling of the murder of Henry Nowak.

Mr Farage said the victim, Mr Nowak, “was treated in a way that essentially meant that the charge of racial slurs was to be taken more seriously than an act of murder”.

Shocking body camera footage released by Hampshire Constabulary late on Monday night revealed the true horror of the case.

Digwa’s family is seen surrounding Henry, telling police that he “kept falling” and had “a mouth full of blood”.

Officers then asked Digwa what had happened before asking if “anyone other than himself” had been injured. Digwa grumbled about “swollen eyes”.

Then he dragged Henry, who collapsed, on the gravel and said, “Let’s get you out of there, okay?”

The male officer then asked his colleague “can you hold your other arm?”

The 18-year-old later told officers he had been stabbed before an officer responded: “I don’t think so, mate.”

Henry is then handcuffed and tells them repeatedly, “I can’t breathe.”

Finally, a female police officer asked Henry, who was now handcuffed, “Where do you think you were stabbed?” he asks. before telling his colleague, “we need to check, don’t we?”

He eventually called an ambulance after realizing “his pupils weren’t even responding.”

The footage, which lasts about three minutes, ends with the arresting officer asking Henry’s name before reading him his rights.

Reform UK leader Mr Farage said: “Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwestern America a few years ago.

“Do you remember the reaction to this and how the police acted? Within days Keir Starmer took the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded across the country. Churchill’s statue was defaced, the cenotaph was vandalised.

“So what was the reaction of our leaders and politicians, and frankly most of the media, to this?

“Silence, absolute silence. Proof (if ever there was one) that we live in a two-tiered culture in this country, where the rights and privileges of white people are less important than the rights and privileges of ethnic minorities.”

And Ms Badenoch launched an attack on Mr Farage’s intervention: “We shouldn’t be making this about Nigel Farage. This is about Henry Nowak and I listened to his father and it was absolutely heartbreaking.”

“And I watched that body camera footage this morning and I thought, if this is my son, he spent his final moments in handcuffs, knowing he was dying, and he could see the confusion of his alleged racist attacker. That’s a terrible way for anyone to die.”

“And I think no one, whether it’s politicians or the police or the public, the first place we have to start is with what that child is going through and what his family is going through right now.

“What Nigel Farage said is completely misunderstood, which is that when the trial happens politicians – he’s a politician by the way – stop pretending he’s not, he’s a politician like everyone else, we wait until the sentence is handed down before we say what we think so we don’t influence the trial. That’s why I’m here this morning.”

“This case shows that something has gone terribly wrong with policing, and I think I know why. I think in 2020, 2021, there was an overcorrected response to the George Floyd murders that led to a lot of problems.”

But Reform’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, launched a fierce attack on Ms Badenoch.

He said: “Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives have created a two-tier country where white people are routinely discriminated against without consequence.

“They allowed two-tier policing to become normalized. This had a direct impact on the death of Henry Nowak.”

“He now has the nerve to go on television and tell you not to get angry about this. A shameless disgrace.”