Nigel Farage’s response to the murder of Henry Nowak shows that he is “completely unfit” to be Prime Minister, a Cabinet minister and ally of Sir Keir Starmer has told GB News.
The Reform UK leader has come under fire for failing to condemn the violence in Southampton in Prime Minister’s Questions after video footage emerged of police handcuffing Henry, a student in the city, as he lay dying after sustaining stab wounds.
Mr Farage was also accused of using the opportunity to lament what he described as “two-tier policing”.
However, in an interview with GB News’ Chopper’s Political Podcast, Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said that Mr Farage’s remarks about the murder show he is not fit to be Prime Minister.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “I was appalled. I was sat just a few spaces down from the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s Questions, and I just could not believe Nigel Farage didn’t start his question by condemning the violence.
“Because what Henry Nowak’s father had said was not to have his son’s brutal murder exploited politically or to be a reason to promote division or to promote hatred.
“And I thought ‘we as politicians all had a responsibility to do that’. Nobody is saying there aren’t profound lessons that we need to learn from this, but those appalling, despicable scenes we have seen of violence in Southampton, of violence towards the police, utterly appalling, should be totally condemned.
“And that Nigel Farage can’t bring himself to do that, I think, says a great deal.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds sits down with GB News
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GB NEWS
Eleven officers and a dog were injured during the demonstration after protesters were filmed hurling bins and pelting missiles at the police.
Asked whether Mr Farage’s remarks raised question marks about whether he can be a Prime Minister and “govern for the whole country”, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “It makes him completely unfit.
“Prime Ministers have to be able to bring the country together. And it is a basic, basic duty of politicians, in my opinion, in situations like this to be able to condemn violence.
“We’re talking about a sentence or two that he had to utter at the start of that question. That was the moment at Prime Minister’s Questions. That’s the moment.
Nigel Farage condemned the violence in his interview with GB News
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GB NEWS
“That’s the bit of Parliament every week that the public watches. That’s what the public sees.”
However, opinion polls show Mr Farage is on course to become Britain’s next Prime Minister, with Reform UK opening up a nine-point lead in YouGov’s latest survey.
When asked why he did not condemn the violence at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Mr Farage told GB News: “Because I warned there’d be even more violence unless we took some action.
“Isn’t it marvellous? 600 MPs all come together to say, ‘Let’s unite, let’s unite, let’s condemn the far-right thugs, let’s condemn them,’ but let’s do nothing.”
Over a thousand protesters have gathered outside Southampton Central Police Station to demand that action be taken after the murder of Henry Nowak | GETTY
Mr Farage added: “Of course, I condemn all violence, I always have, but what they don’t want to listen to in the Commons is that if you don’t get rid of the perception, reality, or both of two-tier policing, you finish up with lots and lots of angry young, white working-class men.”
Mr Farage had been accused of “inciting violence” for his response to Henry’s murderer, Vickrum Digwa, receiving a life sentence.
Henry, an 18-year-old finance student from Essex, was stabbed by Digwa five times on the way home from a night out in Southampton on December 3 last year.
Nigel Farage was heckled at PMQs
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PA
Harrowing bodycam footage showed officers dismiss Nowak’s cries about being stabbed, with one being heard replying: “I don’t think you have, mate.”
The Nowak family met with both Sir Keir and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch today.
Mr Farage told GB News he is arranging a meeting with the teenager’s mother.
Watch Chopper’s Political Podcast in full above, or listen to it on Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.