Nigel Farage accused of 'trying to stir things up rather than calm them down' by former Tory leader after Henry Nowak murder
Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was "astonished" by an interview given by the Reform UK leader
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has accused Nigel Farage of "stirring things up rather than trying to calm them down" in the aftermath of Henry Nowak's murder.
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Sir Iain admitted on Tonight with Andrew Marr that he was "astonished" over the Reform UK leader's comments and questioned the true motive behind them.
It comes after Farage appeared on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast and claimed the fatal stabbing of Henry, 18, and the police response that followed, are evidence of what he called "two-tier Britain".
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Farage said officers had treated "an accusation of a racial slur more seriously than an act of murder".
Hitting back, Sir Iain told Andrew: "I was astonished that actually he made the statement and I think [Kemi Badenoch] must have been too, because that is definitely not right in the middle of something which is still being investigated.
"It's not how we go. We know there are problems, but we wait to see what the outcomes of this is and then we can decide what to do.
"But the idea that you go out to make some great statement sounds to me very much like you're trying to stir things up rather than calm them down."
Bodycam footage released late on Monday showed police handcuffing Henry while he lay on the ground.
The university student repeatedly told officers that he couldn't breathe and that he had been stabbed.
A court later heard that he had been attacked by Vickrum Digwa, 23, with an 8-inch ceremonial knife, who falsely claimed he had been racially abused by the teenager.
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain also praised an interview given by Ms Badenoch on Tuesday in which she called on the nation to "stop using race as a way of defining laws".
Sir Iain said: "You all matter in the eyes of the government and you must all matter in the eyes of the police. That's what we need to establish.
"For too long we keep breaking ourselves into groups and the other point I thought she made very well was, why do we keep referring to what's going on in the United States as to how we are in the UK?
"We are often quite different from the way they deal with things in the United States, often a lot more tolerant at times.
"And tolerance is the mark of who we are, I think, but that's not weakness, that's strength. Tolerance is strength."
He added: "What we don't want to do is stir up that anger and that hatred for political purposes.
"What we should be doing is trying to calm things down, but always give the assurance to the British people that things will happen, that things will take place that will change the nature of what we've discovered.
"I think that's what the dividing line is between us. We are a party genuinely of government, and you can't go on getting everybody to be angry and hating all the time.
"If you plan to govern, you must present them with alternatives, rational, reasonable alternatives as to how the government should be done.
"We're angry with this particular government, maybe that's fine. We then put in the alternatives.
"But we talk about alternatives of government, not alternatives of campaigning. That's different altogether."
Digwa was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years on Monday but speaking outside court afterwards, Henry's father Mark said the family did not want their son's death to be used to "create further division, hatred or tension".
He said: "We need real solutions. We need investment in prevention. We need stronger action on the sale, the ownership and carrying of all knives.
"As this case so painfully demonstrates, we need common sense applied to our laws. This doesn't mean knee-jerk reactions, this doesn't mean going to extremes. It just means a common-sense approach to law and order.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary's temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France has apologised on behalf of the officers.
The force referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and confirmed one of the officers involved has resigned.