Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Elon Musk on Thursday of attempting to "whip up division" over the murder of Southampton student Henry Nowak, directly rebuking the world's richest man and close ally of US President Donald Trump for posting on his X platform that people should "send the video to everyone you know showing how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer." Speaking during a visit to North Yorkshire, Starmer said Musk was "interfering" in UK politics and called on the public to heed the Nowak family's own request for calm.
The confrontation between Starmer and Musk unfolded as the immediate legal and security aftermath of the case continued to develop. The Crown Prosecution Service announced on Thursday that Matt Styler, 50, had been charged with assaulting a police officer in relation to the disorder in Southampton on Tuesday night, while Daniel Frost, 44, was charged with violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon. Deputy chief crown prosecutor Sophie Stevens said prosecutors had worked closely with Hampshire Police and were satisfied there was sufficient evidence to bring both cases to court. A police dog was also injured in the violence on Tuesday night, which Hampshire Police said left 11 officers hurt.
What Happened in Southampton on Tuesday Night
The violence broke out after police body-camera footage of Henry Nowak's final moments — recorded on the night of December 3, 2025, when Nowak was stabbed and then handcuffed by arriving officers who believed his attacker's false claim of a racist assault — was publicly released following the sentencing of killer Vickrum Digwa on Monday to life with a minimum of 21 years. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Southampton's central police station on Tuesday evening, chanting "Henry, Henry" and hurling bricks, bins, and flares at riot police who eventually retreated. A large group then marched toward the street where Nowak was killed. Far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, attended the rally and told the crowd he wanted the officers involved to face prison time. Hampshire Police chief constable Alexis Boon condemned the disorder, saying: "What we, as a society, cannot accept is the violent scenes we saw in Southampton last night."
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary separately confirmed it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the officers' actions at the scene. The force acknowledged in a public statement that its officers had been misled by Digwa at the scene, but maintained that the handcuffing decision had been made on the information available and that medical evidence showed Nowak's injuries were not survivable regardless. The IOPC investigation is ongoing.
Starmer vs Farage: Two Readings of the Same Tragedy
In the House of Commons on Thursday, Starmer took direct aim at Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who had told supporters the previous week to respond to Nowak's murder with "pure cold rage" and predicted that the disorder in Southampton was "only the beginning" due to what he termed emerging "anti-white prejudice" in British policing. Starmer told MPs that the grieving family had expressly asked people not to respond in the way Farage had responded. "Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances. But to do it when the family are expressly saying, 'please don't,' is unforgiveable. It shows exactly who he is," Starmer said. He accused Farage of using the incident to "create division" rather than seek justice.
Farage's framing of the case as an example of two-tier policing — the claim, popular on the British right, that ethnic minority complainants receive more favourable treatment from police than white victims — was echoed in Musk's posts and by parts of the Conservative opposition. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey went further in his characterisation of Musk's intervention, describing it as a "co-ordinated campaign of foreign interference in British democracy by a rogue American tech billionaire." Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood rejected the two-tier policing claim directly, telling MPs that different standards for different communities did not exist and urging Parliament not to allow the murder to turn communities against one another.
The Sikh Community Responds
A coalition of British Sikh community groups issued a joint statement addressing both the killing and its aftermath. The groups described Nowak's murder as a "moment of madness by an individual for which there can be no excuses" and said the wider Sikh community had faced "considerable abuse and hate" during Digwa's trial and in the days since his conviction, particularly around the religious practice of carrying a kirpan. Prosecutors at trial had established that Digwa carried both a standard kirpan — which Sikhs are lawfully permitted to carry for religious reasons — and a separate 8-inch sheathed dagger that was used as the murder weapon. The groups said: "Fully practicing Sikhs who wear a Kirpan should continue to recognise the serious responsibility that accompanies it, together with the limited legal protection that exists for wearing it for genuine religious purposes." Judge Mousley had told Digwa at sentencing that his actions had "stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country" and made many Sikhs worried about their safety despite having done nothing wrong.
Henry Nowak's father, Mark Nowak, had stood outside Southampton Crown Court on Monday and appealed for restraint, saying the case was not about racism or religion and that he wanted his son's death to lead to safer streets, not further division, hatred, or tension. That plea shaped much of the political response — and was cited repeatedly by Starmer, Mahmood, and others as the correct measure against which to judge Farage's and Musk's interventions. As of Thursday evening, no further arrests had been announced in connection with the Southampton disorder, though Hampshire Police said its investigation into the events of Tuesday night was continuing.
