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It’s rare that the most important exchange of PMQs comes after the back and forth between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. Today was such an occasion, though.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, happened to have been allotted a question today, amid the intense political reaction to the murder of Henry Nowak.
It was no surprise, therefore, that Farage seized the opportunity to condemn what he sees as “two-tier policing”, warning that the anger seen on the streets of Southampton last night could get a lot worse if the public loses trust in the police.
Starmer was passionate, perhaps as passionate as I have ever seen him in the House of Commons, in his condemnation of Farage’s approach. As Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, did yesterday, the prime minister drew on the comments made by Nowak’s father at the conclusion of the court case on Monday, when he said that his son’s death should not be used to stoke division.
Yet for all the passion and intensity of the exchange, there is a bit more nuance, and even agreement, in elements of where the different parties are on this.
On the substance of Farage’s point about police anti-racism guidance, while the government disagrees with Farage’s claim that there is two-tier policing in the UK, the policing minister has said that guidance is “wrong” and a source close to Mahmood has said it is worded clumsily.
That guidance was first highlighted in the Commons yesterday by the Conservative shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, who said it was “morally wrong and dangerous”. Separately, though, Kemi Badenoch has criticised Farage’s response to the murder, arguing that “we should try and depoliticise this”.
Similarly, Sir Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats has said the case should not become a “political football”.
The essential: There are two political debates happening simultaneously. One about whether the policing of Nowak’s murder was impacted by race. And another much more bitter one about the right way to discuss those questions.
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