“It is inflammatory, it is extremist, it is divisive. It’s everything the family didn’t want.”
That was the warning from Neil Basu, the former Met assistant commissioner, about Nigel Farage’s response to the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak in which he called for a ‘clear cold rage’ in response to the murder and its surrounding circumstances.
The family themselves have been equally clear:
“We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.”
And yet that is exactly what is happening.
This is the far-right playbook.
Take a tragedy. Turn it into a racial grievance. Convince people that their neighbour is the problem. Present anger as a solution.
The violence that broke out in Southampton yesterday is a stark reminder of the real-world consequences when fear and division are deliberately stoked.
We saw it after Southport. We saw where it led. Violence followed. Communities were targeted. Fear spread. And now we are seeing the same forces attempting to use Henry’s death to tell a story about white victimhood and racial conflict.
Whatever terrible failures occurred in Henry’s case, and however serious they may prove to be, the attempt to turn this tragedy into evidence that white people are now the primary victims of racial prejudice turns reality on its head.
The reality is that racial inequality has not disappeared from Britain. For people from ethnic minority backgrounds being treated with suspicion remains an ordinary part of life.
According to the latest Home Office figures, for example, Black people are stopped and searched by police at nearly four times the rate of white people. For searches linked to suspected weapons, the disparity is even higher. Racial abuse remains commonplace. Discrimination in housing, employment and public life remains. Yet the far right wants to persuade people that anti-racism itself is now the real injustice.
There is another way
The politics of division depends on people feeling frightened, isolated and resentful. It depends on us seeing one another as enemies.
Compassion in Politics was created to build something different: a politics that tells the truth, resists scapegoating and refuses to profit from fear.
At a time when the politics of hatred is becoming louder, that work matters more than ever.
If you share that vision, please help us grow it. Become a member today and help us build a movement capable of challenging division with courage, truth and compassion.
If you are already a member, or are not ready to join. Donate today and help us build a movement capable of challenging division with courage, truth and compassion.
With gratitude,
Compassion in Politics