Starmer accuses Farage of inciting rage in wake of Southampton riot

<article data-history-node-id="441630" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/starmer-accuses-farage-inciting-rage-southampton-riot" class="story default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/starmer-accuses-farage-inciting-rage-southampton-riot" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Starmer accuses Farage of inciting rage in wake of Southampton riot</span> </a> </h2> <footer> <div class="author"> Submitted by <span class="field field-uid"><a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/oscar-rickett" lang about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/oscar-rickett" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype>Oscar Rickett</a></span> on <span class="field field-created"><time datetime="2026-06-03T15:15:04+01:00" title="3 June 2026 15:15 BST">Wed, 06/03/2026 - 15:15</time> </span> </div> </footer> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-subhead">Prime minister tells Reform UK leader he is ignoring wishes of family of murdered 18-year-old Henry Nowak </div> <div class="field field-field-main-image"> <picture> <source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/crop_16_9/public/images-story/FarageTHIS.jpg.webp?itok=QROb0ugf 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="715"> <img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/crop_16_9/public/images-story/FarageTHIS.jpg.webp?itok=QROb0ugf 1x" width="1400" height="715" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/FarageTHIS.jpg.jpg?itok=7xITieFW" alt typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </picture> </div> <div class="field field-field-cutline">Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks in parliament on 3 June 2026 (Screenshot)</div> <div class="field field-field-wide-photo-video">Off</div> <div class="field field-body clearfix"><p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/uk">British</a> Prime Minister <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/keir-starmer-man-who-would-be-prime-minister">Keir Starmer</a> has accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of ignoring the wishes of a murdered 18-year-old boy’s family by calling for “rage” in response to his death.&nbsp;</p> <p>Starmer’s comments, delivered in parliament on Wednesday, came after a riot on Tuesday night in Southampton, a city on England’s south coast, which saw far-right protesters and <a href="https://x.com/thelefttake/status/2061939107685597515?s=20&nbsp;">known neo-Nazis</a> clash with police.&nbsp;</p> <p>The riot was sparked in part by inflammatory rhetoric in response to the case of Henry Nowak, 18, who was stabbed to death in Southampton in December last year by Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old British Sikh man. Last week, Digwa was convicted of murder by a jury.</p> <p>Police body camera footage that has been circulating online shows a police officer handcuffing Nowak, after Digwa falsely accused the 18-year-old of assaulting him.</p> <p>Nowak tells the police officer repeatedly that he’s been stabbed, while the officer says, “I don’t think you have.” “I can’t breathe,” Nowak says, as the police officer puts Nowak's hands behind his back. The 18-year-old died at the scene.</p><div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"><div> <div class="adsense responsive"> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <!-- responsive --> <ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div> </div> </div> <p>Farage, and other right-wing figures in politics and the media, have accused the police of “two-tier policing” by favouring the narrative of a non-white aggressor over that of a white victim.&nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p>'We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension'</p> <p>– <em>Mark Nowak, father of Henry</em></p> </blockquote> <p>Under pressure from Restore, the new far-right party launched by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, once the chairman of Southampton Football Club, and embroiled in a scandal relating to a £5m “gift” from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, Farage has called for “rage” in response to Nowak’s murder.</p> <p>“The fear of being called racist was greater than dealing with Henry Nowak’s murder,” Farage <a href="https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/2061718431280304367?s=20">posted</a> on X on Tuesday. “We should respond to this with pure cold rage. Britain’s historic way of life is being thrown away.”</p> <p>A longstanding ally of Farage’s told Middle East Eye that the Reform leader was simply responding with conviction to the “reality of two-tier policing” in the UK. “The issue isn’t Nowak, but what caused Nowak,” he said.</p> <p>The source said Farage was not worried about Lowe outflanking him to the right.</p> <h3>Farage accused of ignoring family's wishes</h3> <p>Farage’s response to the murder directly contradicts the expressed wishes of Nowak’s family.&nbsp;</p> <p>On Monday, Henry's father, Mark Nowak, told reporters outside court: “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. As the KC [lawyer] for the prosecution summed up in court: This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder.”</p> <p>Starmer repeated these words in parliament on Wednesday, as he accused Farage of “exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division”.&nbsp;</p> <div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"> <a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-foreign-minister-treats-nigel-farage-prime-minister-waiting-uk-trip"><img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Screenshot%202026-05-16%20at%20104239.jpg.webp?itok=Lsxy1M1v" width="400" height="250" alt loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image"> </a> <div class="mee-readmore-description">UAE foreign minister treats Nigel Farage like prime-minister-in-waiting on UK trip</div> <a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-foreign-minister-treats-nigel-farage-prime-minister-waiting-uk-trip">Read More »</a> </div> <p>“It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two-tier policing,” Farage said, calling on Starmer to recognise this interpretation as reality.&nbsp;</p> <p>When he referenced “the anger you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”, Farage was interrupted with outrage and calls to condemn the violence, which he did not do.</p> <p>He went on to say that this anger was “in danger of getting considerably worse if the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police”.</p> <p>“I don’t believe there is two-tier policing in this country,” Starmer said in response. “I am really shocked that he pretends to have respect for Henry’s family and then acts in this way.</p> <p>“A grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded… They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstances. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The prime minister added: “Rage – that’s his response to a father who has lost his son and asked for that not to happen.</p> <p>“Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstance, but to do it when the family are expressly saying 'please don’t' is unforgivable,” Starmer said.</p> </div> <div class="field field-field-topic"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/uk-politics" hreflang="en">UK Politics</a></div> <div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-field-article-location"> </div> <div class="field field-field-section"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en">News</a></div> <div class="field field-field-post-date-override"> <div>Post Date Override</div> <div>0</div> </div> <div class="field field-field-update-date-override"> <div>Update Date</div> <div><time datetime="2020-05-04T21:19:45+01:00">Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19</time> </div> </div> <div class="field field-field-update-date-check"> <div>Update Date Override</div> <div>0</div> </div> </div> </article>