Starmer and Badenoch meet with family of murdered Henry Nowak as Tory leader vows to create ‘positive legacy’
Sir Keir Starmer will meet the family of murdered student Henry Nowak, whose treatment by police has triggered a political row.
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Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition, met with the grieving family on Thursday morning, vowing to create a ‘positive legacy’ for the murdered student.
The Prime Minister’s private meeting will take place in Downing Street this afternoon, No 10 said.
He has urged politicians to heed Mr Nowak’s relatives’ calls not to use the case “to cause disturbances”, as he accused Elon Musk of trying to “whip up division” in the UK over the murder, and after he branded Nigel Farage’s response “unforgiveable”.
Violent protests erupted near where the 18-year-old was fatally stabbed, amid an outcry over his treatment, after his killer Vickrum Digwa claimed he had been the victim of a racial attack, while Mr Nowak was handcuffed by police who ignored his pleas that he could not breathe as he lay dying.
Billionaire X owner Mr Musk has posted numerous times on his platform about the police response to the stabbing of the teenager in Southampton last year, including to offer to fund a private prosecution of Hampshire Constabulary.
The Prime Minister told reporters during a trip to York on Thursday: “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.”
“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.”
Mrs Badenoch also stressed that Mr Nowak’s family “do not want anger to tear communities apart”, after meeting his mother, father and stepmother on Thursday morning.
She added that the family agreed with her that “we need to bring common sense back” to how equality is treated under the law.
Mrs Badenoch wrote on X: “They have asked that we work across political parties and religions to rebuild trust in the police. That trust has been broken because of what happened, and I agree with them on that.
“We must also be prepared to examine, carefully and seriously, religious practices or exemptions that permit the carrying of dangerous weapons in public, and other activities that are not conducive to the public good. We also need to examine where the law needs to change.”
Digwa has been given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
Mr Musk has criticised on his social media platform “how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer” and what he described as the media’s silence about the case after writing “about George Floyd millions of times”.
It is not the first time the tech tycoon has waded into British politics, having last year started a war of words with the Government over grooming gangs and thrown his support behind activist Tommy Robinson.
The Prime Minister, a target of Mr Musk’s attacks, accused the world’s richest man of “spreading lies and misinformation” at the time and has also hit out at his AI chatbot Grok for creating sexualised images.
But Mr Musk’s intervention over Mr Nowak’s murder has prompted what appears to be Sir Keir’s strongest direct condemnation of the billionaire yet.
Sir Keir also told journalists that Labour MP Jess Asato was “absolutely right” in taking legal action against Mr Musk’s xAI over “disgusting” images created of her.
The Conservatives, whose leader Mrs Badenoch has called for an end to “two-tier policing”, have said the officers who arrested Mr Nowak on false racism claims should face a full misconduct investigation.
Asked about the Tories’ demand, Sir Keir said “there are questions that need to be answered” over the police response, and added that the Independent Office for Police Conduct should be given space to “get on with their job” in investigating the case.
“I think it’s right that there may need to be changes and we shouldn’t shy away from that,” the Labour leader said.
“But we really need to listen to Henry’s family, because they’re asking us, as politicians, as leaders, not to use his case to whip up division, not to cause disturbances. We have to listen to them.”
Meanwhile, Reform MP Robert Jenrick said it was “ludicrous” to suggest that Mr Farage’s response to the murder was stoking division, after the Reform leader suggested that the public should feel “pure, cold rage”.