Against the background of a fiercely contested byelection that may determine the fate of the UK prime minister, new fuel has been poured into Britain’s febrile politics by a racially divisive argument over police conduct at student Henry Nowak’s stabbing last September. Protests flared following reports from the trial of his killer that attending police had accepted his claims of racial abuse against Nowak and ignored the student’s dying pleas, backed up by shocking police bodycam footage.
Taking their cue from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s “pure, cold rage” and insistence that the police conduct reflected “two-tier policing” favouring racial minorities, activists rioted in Southampton demanding parity of treatment for whites. The issue has become a rallying cry for the far-right in Europe and beyond. Far-right French presidential hopeful Éric Zemmour claimed Nowak’s “immigrant perpetrator” – now serving 21 years for murder– was being protected by the “religion of anti-racism”.
And billionaire Elon Musk’s inflammatory interventions was followed by a message on X from the US State Department and an extraordinary post from US vice-president JD Vance. He blamed the killing on the “mass invasion of migrants”, leading UK prime minister Keir Starmer to hit out at those trying to “stir up division,”
Farage’s claim is that the police force , accused of institutional racism, has over-corrected in its response, particularly in the wake of the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The evidence, however, suggests that this is not the case. In the last two years human rights groups have reported that many UK police forces attempt to predict crime by racially profiling communities and that black people are much more likely than whites to die following restraint by the police.
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The Nowak case is now being examined by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. A full and credible investigation is essential. But the far right will not wait for its result and see another opportunity to stir up unrest and division, against the wishes of the Nowak family.
