Nigel Farage isn't the problem. The political class is the problem.
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I do not usually write several pieces on the same story. But I genuinely believe that the murder of Henry Nowak represents a watershed moment in modern Britain.
Already, among the British people, the horrific murder and treatment of Henry has sparked a widespread and intensifying debate in the country.
Many people are now asking entirely legitimate questions.
Why are police officers in this country taught to react differently to crimes depending on whether they involve ethnic minorities or people from the white majority?
What happened to people being treated equally before the law, irrespective of their racial, ethnic, or religious background?
And why are perverse ideologies from America that promote anti-British, anti-Western, and anti-white ideas now circulating widely among not only the police but schools, universities, the health service, media, government, and more?
But while millions of Brits are asking these important and valid questions, what we also learned this week is that the ruling class clearly does not want to have this debate.
Rather than engage seriously with the concerns and grievances that are being voiced out there, by the silent majority, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and countless Members of Parliament instead chose to retreat into their comfort zone by blaming the one person who was forcing these questions onto the agenda: Nigel Farage.
When Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, stood up during Prime Minister’s Questions this week to voice his entirely justifiable concerns about “two-tier policing”, he was widely jeered, criticised, and attacked in the House of Commons.
Keir Starmer, Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch, and leader of Restore, Rupert Lowe, all accused Farage of exploiting the tragedy and creating division.
Countless MPs hit the media to say Nigel Farage is being irresponsible. To say he is disrespecting the Nowak family. To criticise him for “politicising” the issue.
As commentator Konstantin Kisin quipped, if you listened to the British media this week you’d think Henry Nowak was killed by Nigel Farage’s comments.
But millions of ordinary people will have seen something else. They will have spent much of this week witnessing blatant, overwhelming, unavoidable hypocrisy.
Only six years ago, when George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, in 2020, almost every single one of these same politicians adopted a radically different tone.
Keir Starmer declared that George Floyd’s death, in America, “should be the catalyst for change” here in Britain. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Floyd’s death had “rightly ignited fury and anguish” around the world.
And Labour’s Shabana Mahmood, who castigated Farage in the House this week, six years ago told her constituents: “I share their anger at this unspeakable outrage.”
Notice the language. “Rightly”. “Fury.” “Anger.” “Share”. “A catalyst for change.”
Six years ago, the ruling class in Westminster told Britain and the world that public outrage over racism and policing should not only be voiced and heard but amplified, respected and acted upon by every institution in British society.
That’s what happened.
We all lived through it. We all saw it. We all felt it. And we all watched the political, media, and cultural class bend over backwards to impose major changes.
But today, in sharp contrast, the reaction to an eerily similar case - the death of a young man amidst police incompetence and while muttering the exact same words (“I can’t breathe”) - could hardly be more different.
This time, the very same people who immediately ‘took the knee’ for a revolutionary, anti-Western, anti-democratic, and anti-white organisation now tell us “it is very important not to politicise a personal tragedy” or “cause division”.
This time, the very same people who used the death of a career criminal in America to justify a full-blown cultural revolution in the West tell us “we must restrain ourselves so as to respect the wishes of the Nowak family” (although, interestingly, when the mother of Rhiannon Whyte, who was stabbed to death by an illegal migrant, called for an end to illegal migration Starmer did not want respect the wishes of that family).
This time, the very same MPs who supported or even joined Black Lives Matter protests and riots on the streets of our capital city while openly breaking Covid laws publicly condemn any similar disturbances and riots relating to Henry Nowak.
And this time, the political class and their allies in the media have made it crystal clear that the only response they consider proper and socially acceptable is the very opposite to what followed Black Lives Matter only six years ago.
Righteous anger? Not allowed. Protesting on the streets? Not this time. Expressing rage? You should be ashamed of yourself. Wanting the tragedy to become a “catalyst for change” to two-tier policing? I’m afraid now you’ll find that the very same people who only six years ago tried to have us believe that every single institution in British society was “institutionally racist” now say “two-tier policing” could not possibly exist.
In fact, this week the British people were put in the utterly absurd position of being told by Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his deputy David Lammy that “two-tier policing does not exist” while on the very same day the country’s most senior police chiefs admitted in The Times newspaper they were “reviewing controversial guidance advising officers to treat ethnic minorities differently”.
In other words, the very same politicians who tried to introduce more lenient prison sentences for criminals from minority backgrounds now want you to believe that two-tier justice “does not exist”. Clearly, there are no limits to the extent to which the political class will try and gaslight the British people.
Even Starmer’s cynical use of the Nowak family is outrageous.
If you go back and actually listen to what Henry’s father, Mark Nowak, said, he was very careful to point to Henry’s “inhumane” and “degrading” treatment by the police and contrast it with the “decency” with which they treated his murderer, Vikrum Digwa. He was very clearly pointing to two-tier policing while also underlining his determination to use this appalling tragedy to “make change for the better”.
The entirely legitimate question that must now be asked and debated across the country is how to make that change for the better. I have made some suggestions, as have many others, including Nigel Farage and Reform UK. But Keir Starmer, Labour, and much of the political class clearly do not want us to have this debate at all.
Why? Because what we are witnessing is exactly the same playbook the political class used after Brexit, the Manchester Evening News Arena bombing, the murder of Sir David Amess, the grooming gangs, and the Southport atrocity.
Rather than engage seriously with the underlying issue, with the actual issue, the political class now only tries to police the reaction to these events. It has become hopelessly and profoundly out-of-touch with the people it claims to serve.
Brexit? Don’t lower immigration, restore sovereignty, and help left behind people. Blame Nigel Farage, Cambridge Analytica, and deride voters as gammons and racists.
The Manchester bombing? Don’t address Islamism and stop importing people who hate us. Blame “division” and sing songs about not looking back in anger.
Sir David Amess? Definitely. Do. Not. Mention. Islamism. Blame social media and distract everybody with a debate about “online safety”.
The grooming gangs? Don’t hold an immediate statutory inquiry into the worst scandal in British history before crushing every grooming gang in the country.
Blame Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage, and Elon Musk for “whipping up division” while hoping that nobody notices there is still no inquiry and the gangs remain rife.
Southport? Don’t fix the borders, end mass immigration and stop importing people from radically different cultures who glorify violence. Once again, blame Nigel Farage and ‘far-right thugs’ while clamping down on free speech.
Henry Nowak? Don’t acknowledge and address the blatant two-tier policing that led officers to prioritise allegations of racial abuse over doing their job properly. Instead, blame Nigel Farage once again and warn everybody else not to “cause division”.
Time and time again, we see the same pattern. A political class that has become so weak, so cowardly, and so desperate to distract people from scrutinising its own legacy that it is now more determined to try and turn this into a debate about Nigel Farage or Elon Musk rather than acknowledge and deal with the underlying issue.
What we are witnessing is a political class, a regime, that is rapidly losing control of the narrative and is desperately trying to regain it - if not impose it.
But this strategy, as we can see from the aftermath of Southport to events this week, is simply no longer working because more and more people can see, with their own eyes, what is happening to the country.
What millions of people can see, clearly, is that the debate over Henry Nowak is not simply a debate over Nigel Farage. It is about how some groups are being treated more favourably than others. It is about how only some grievances are considered legitimate while others are caricatured, mocked and dismissed. And it is about how the same standards and level of respect are no longer shown to different groups.
The longer Keir Starmer and the political class refuse to engage seriously and honestly with these concerns about what is actually happening to Britain, the more they and the wider system will lose people’s trust and confidence.
This is what has been building up slowly but relentlessly in the system — through the debates over Brexit, the grooming gangs, the Islamist bombings, Southport, mass immigration, broken borders, Muslim sectarianism and more — a growing awareness among millions of ordinary people out there in the country that the system is simply no longer interested in dealing with the things that are actually tearing Britain apart.
Worse, it is now only interested in managing the reaction to these things through a draconian clampdown on free speech, free expression, and free debate.
This is a very dangerous place for any society to be. The more people withdraw their trust and confidence, the weaker the system will become before, inevitably, at some point in the not-too-distant future, collapsing altogether.
This, more than anything else, is why the murder of Henry Nowak may prove to be a watershed moment in British politics. Because it has pulled back the curtain to reveal just how out-of-touch and self-serving the political regime has become.
The only question is whether the regime will now turn back and address the underlying issues that are tearing our country apart before it really is too late.
As always, I’d welcome your comments. I’m looking forward to joining our Paid subscribers at our weekly Live discussion at 2pm today on the Substack App.
Couldn’t agree more Matt. The Commons by its actions this week turning on Nigel Farage showed the nation it is not fit for purpose. They showed more emotion jeering him than they did about the actual murder. They thought they were being clever but in doing so scored a massive own goal. The public know what is going on now. It reminded me of when Farage stood up and was laughed at by the EU when he said Britain was going to leave. Who had the last laugh? I hope for the sake of the country history repeats itself and our contemptible MPs are voted out en masse next election (if we’re actually allowed one btw).
The reaction to the Henry Nowak case has exposed a remarkable double standard at the heart of Britain's political and media establishment. When tragedies fit an approved narrative, politicians rush to express outrage, demand change and insist uncomfortable questions must be confronted. When a tragedy raises questions they would rather avoid, suddenly the public is told to stay quiet, remain calm and stop "politicising" events.
Rather than address concerns about policing, public confidence and equal treatment under the law, much of the political class appears more interested in attacking Nigel Farage for daring to raise the issue. The focus shifts from the message to the messenger, as though criticism itself is the real offence.
This instinct is becoming increasingly familiar. Faced with public anger, the establishment reaches for deflection, denunciation and distraction. Anyone questioning the official narrative is portrayed as divisive, irresponsible or dangerous.
The problem is that ordinary people can see what is happening. The louder politicians condemn those asking questions, the more they fuel suspicion that they have no convincing answers.