UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has publicly accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of attempting to incite division following the murder of eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak.
BBC News reports that the murder of British teen Henry Nowak has sparked protests in Southampton and reignited debates about police conduct and alleged disparities in law enforcement. Elon Musk entered the controversy on Tuesday when he posted on X, writing: “Send the video to everyone you know showing how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer. Legacy mainstream media, same ones who wrote about George Floyd millions of times, are dead silent about Nowak.”
During a visit to York on Thursday, Starmer responded forcefully to Musk’s comments, accusing him of interfering in British politics. He said: “We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division – that is not who we are in Britain. In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly, as his family have done.”
The Prime Minister emphasized that Nowak’s grieving family had specifically appealed for calm in the aftermath of the tragedy. Following the sentencing, Henry Nowak’s father Mark made a public statement outside the court, saying: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to make our streets safer for everyone.”
Sir Keir stated that the Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the officers’ behavior and that the National Police Chiefs Council guidance around race is being reviewed as a result of this case. When asked whether he supported Conservative calls for a full misconduct investigation against the involved officers, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of political leadership.
He said: “I think it’s right that there may need to be changes and we shouldn’t shy away from that, not for one moment. But how we conduct ourselves now as politicians is really important. And I call on all politicians, all politicians, to just listen again to what the family are asking of us, which is to remain calm, to show the leadership that’s needed here and not allow this case to be used to whip up division.”
Breitbart News previously reported that Nigel Farage has said English people should react to the murder with “pure, cold, rage,” and that the police must end their polities of anti-white discrimination:
The British government manages race relations with hate speech laws, a “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) culture, and “positive discrimination” in favour of ethnic minorities over non-whites, Farage said. Thus, Britons should not be surprised at the instinctive response of police officers responding to a crime scene and deciding who to believe between a Sikh man alleging racial abuse and a white man alleging a stabbing.
While he condemned the individual decisions of the officers on the scene, Farage made clear they were reacting to their training, the policing culture, and its incentive structures. He said, “Much as we condemn the two police officers involved here, think of this, the biggest fear a police officer now has going about his or her duty on the street is the fear of being reported for having acted in a way that was racially biased. That fear now greater than dealing with a dying man lying on the ground.”
The BBC has been forced to issue a groveling apology to Farage after making up and repeating false quotes:
The BBC presenter wrongfully asserted three times that Farage had said “white, cold rage” was justified in response to Nowak’s death. In reality, the Reform boss had said that “pure, cold rage” was an understandable response from the public.
Mr Chorley claimed that he had misremembered the quote. Although he apologised, the BBC journalist claimed that the false quotes “didn’t change the content” of the interview in which he repeated them, despite some feeling the invented quote added a racialised element to the public anger.
BBC Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire also issued an on-air apology for the false quotes and said that the episode in question had been removed from the BBC’s video and audio streaming services.
Follow the latest on the Henry Nowak murder here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.