Farage turns tragedy into politics of anger

The final moments of Henri Novak's life must have been unimaginably harrowing. As he lay on the ground, bleeding internally from a knife wound, the police handcuffed the eighteen-year-old student, doubting his claim that he had been stabbed.

Novak's killer, Vikram Digva, lied to police, saying the teenager had racially abused and hurt him. Digva, a British Sikh from an Indian-American family, claimed Novak had knocked off his turban, which he wears as a symbol of his faith, and called him a "Paki," a derogatory term for people of South Asian descent.

In fact, according to the judge who sentenced Digva to a minimum of 21 years in prison, what happened was that the victim “perhaps insolently” commented on the large dagger the killer was carrying — another religious symbol, although most devout Sikhs carry a knife that is much smaller and hidden under their clothing — after which Digva grabbed Novak’s phone, sparking a scuffle that ended with him pulling out a 21-centimeter blade and stabbing the student multiple times.

The crime took place in Southampton, on the south coast, in December last year. However, it was only this week, after Digvi was sentenced and a shocking video was released showing officers handcuffing Novak as he lay helpless on the ground, that the events became politically explosive.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “sick” watching the footage. Shabana Mahmud, the home secretary, called it “disturbing” but insisted that the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the watchdog for police forces, be allowed to complete its investigation into the conduct of the officers involved. The attorney general is considering whether to review whether the minimum prison sentence was “unreasonably lenient.”

Nigel Farage and his colleagues at Reform UK, on ​​the populist right, were less measured. Farage broadcast an “emergency address” on June 2 in which he called on the public to respond with “pure, cold fury” and said: “White lives matter too.” Robert Jenrick, his economics spokesman, said: “There is a problem of anti-white racism in this country.”

When Camille Badenoch, the Tory leader who boasts about her anti-voucher stance, accused Farage of trying to foment division by posing as a defender of white people, the aggressive Reform Home Affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf shamefully retorted: “Camille and the Tory Party don’t care about white people.”

This rhetoric is new to British politics – and dangerous. The main parties have largely agreed on a message of racial unity and avoided inciting resentment among the white majority. Although Farage has attracted disproportionate support from white voters throughout his career – in 2015, his UKIP party won the support of 14 percent of those who identify as white and just two percent of ethnic minority voters – he has championed a vision of “colour-blind” politics. He has prided himself on having hastened the decline of the openly racist British National Party, which UKIP had essentially supplanted after briefly gaining popularity in the late 2000s.

The strategy has been successful. Now 12 percent of non-white voters support Reform, and several of Farage's most prominent colleagues - such as Yusuf and Suela Braverman, the former Conservative home secretary - come from minority communities.

Why, then, has he embraced a new, uglier mindset that explicitly portrays white people as the group that now needs help? The reform points to several truly disturbing examples in which crimes committed by ethnic minorities have been downplayed due to misguided concerns about stigmatization or stereotypes—notably the “grooming gang” scandal, in which groups of men of Pakistani descent sexually abused young girls, mostly white.

It is also possible that training designed to overcome a history of police mistreatment of non-white people has made some officers too gullible when faced with claims of racism, such as those cynically made by Digwa. Keir Starmer has promised to investigate “how allegations of racism influenced decision-making in this case.” Official guidance published last year, which appeared to suggest that officers should treat ethnic minorities differently, is now being reconsidered.

But the idea of ​​a widespread “double standard in police treatment” that systematically discriminates against white people in Britain is nonsense. Whites and blacks are equally likely to be victims of crime. And blacks are more than twice as likely to be arrested as whites.

Farage’s dark turn seems to be fueled by threat, outrage and opportunity. The threat comes from even more radical forces to the right of Reform: Rupert Lowe, the leader of Restore Britain, has said the killer should be executed and his family deported. Restore is backed by Elon Musk, and a recent poll showed the party with seven percent support in the upcoming Makerfield by-election – a margin potentially big enough to prevent Reform from winning the seat and handing it to Labour’s Andy Burnham.

Tommy Robinson, a far-right instigator from whom Farage had previously distanced himself, led a protest on the streets of Southampton on the evening of June 2, which led to violence by a small number of participants against police.

The anger, which Farage’s allies privately acknowledge, is directed against the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which originated in America and has had global resonance, including in Britain, following the death of George Floyd during a police intervention in 2020. In his video from June 2, Farage discusses the reaction to the death of “professional criminal George Floyd.” Many on the right have long resented the support of leading politicians for the campaign, arguing that it helped import American identity politics into Britain; now they see it as a return to the left.

And the opportunity comes from Britain's fragmented electorate. With the ethnic minority population in Britain at 17 percent and rising, alienation of non-whites is sure to make it harder to build the broad electoral coalition that was once essential to winning power.

But with voters now split between five different parties - and more in Scotland and Wales - even Reform's current 26 per cent support in the polls could be enough to win. Targeting angry voters and further fuelling their anger could be a winning formula.

Regardless of Marko Novak's dignified response to his son's murder: "We do not want his death to be used to create new divisions, hatred or tensions."

Prepared by: A. Š.