Police Chief Warns Anti-White Bias Claims Could Drive UK Policing ‘Back to 60s’

Policing could be driven back to the 1960s by false claims officers are biased against white people, the leader of Britain’s black officers has said.

Ch Insp Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, spoke out amid growing concerns that politicians such as Nigel Farage were stoking tensions around the murder of teenager Henry Nowak by making baseless and provocative claims.

Senior figures in policing were among those who pushed back against his assertion that the handcuffing of Nowak by officers in Southampton last December after he had been stabbed amounted to two-tier policing and a bias against white people.

They also denounced Farage for saying the response to the killing demanded “cold rage”.

Keir Starmer accused the Reform UK leader of ignoring the wishes of the dead teenager’s family and called the Reform leader’s actions “unforgivable”.

Nowak’s father, Mark, had condemned the “inhumane and degrading” treatment of his son by police.

But he added: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to help make our streets safer for everyone.”

Hampshire’s chief constable, Alexis Boon, whose officers are under scrutiny over the way they dealt with the incident, on Wednesday apologised for the way Nowak had been arrested and handcuffed. He added: “I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this.”

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George said bogus claims from politicians such as Farage and far-right activists that policing is biased against white people could set back efforts to end systemic, longstanding prejudice against black people.

He said: “There is a danger of policing going back to a time long before Stephen Lawrence’s murder, to the 1960s and 1970s, because of the attacks from the far right which have been growing over the past few years, and which are becoming more mainstream.”

In the House of Lords, Doreen Lawrence, who fought police for justice after they failed her murdered son Stephen in 1993, said: “My condolences goes out to Henry Nowak’s family. I think what’s happened with him should never have happened. And the police should be at fault for what happened on that night,” she said.

Body cam footage of the student’s final minutes is accepted by police sources to be “traumatic”.

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In the House of Commons Starmer and Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, warned against divisive rhetoric, and the prime minister condemned Farage for exploiting the tragedy for political gain.

“This is a time for serious work, not rage,” Starmer said, a response to Farage’s call to respond to the case with “pure, cold rage”.

Farage used a question to claim the UK was “living under two-tier policing”, saying this had led to “the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.

Starmer called the Reform UK leader’s comments “unforgivable” and said: “A grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded … His response has been to appeal for rage – rage. That’s his response to a father who has lost his son and asked for that not to happen. 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 unforgivable. It shows exactly who he is.”

Government and police are discussing a review of police promises on tackling racial bias against black people, however, ministers are convinced some of the wording is clumsy and open to attack.

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