UK leader Keir Starmer accused US tech tycoon Elon Musk today of “trying to whip up division” in Britain following anger over the police handling of the murder of a white student, Henry Nowak, by a Sikh man.
“We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain,” the prime minister told reporters.
“In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly, as his family have done,” he added.
🚨 WATCH: Keir Starmer accuses Elon Musk of "whipping up division" in the UK over Henry Nowak’s murder pic.twitter.com/034ltg3TMk
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 4, 2026
The murder of Nowak has also reignited a political fight over the religious exemption that lets Sikhs carry a ceremonial blade in public, with Reform UK pledging to scrap it.
Far-right and right-wing figures have seized on the case of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who was put in handcuffs by police as he lay mortally wounded after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in the southern city of Southampton in December.
Belgian Flemish MEP Tom Vandendriessche (Vlaams Belang/Patriots) has demanded a revision of the EU’s Anti-Racism Strategy, arguing that it is “ideologically unbalanced and systematically disadvantages native Europeans.”
Keir Starmer’s criticism of Elon Musk is not new. Last year, he denounced the billionaire’s “dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric” after Musk told Tommy Robinson far-right rally that “violence is coming” to Britain.
