An horrific murder – and a civil war threatening to tear apart the British right | Joe Mulhall

After the conviction of Henry Nowak’s killer, the right is embracing racialised language. This tragedy is now just part of a political tussle

• Joe Mulhall is director of research at the anti-fascism organisation Hope Not Hate

The video of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak at the hands of Vickrum Digwa in Southampton is horrifying. But Nigel Farage’s decision to respond to these events by calling for “pure cold rage” and insisting we recognise that “white lives matter” is a worrying sign of an increasingly racialised turn in the politics of the British right.

This shift has not taken place in a vacuum. For a year now, while progressives have worried about how to beat Reform, Farage’s party has faced a new threat that has come not from the left, but a party even further to the right. Restore Britain, a party founded by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, has been deeply critical of Farage’s outfit for not being radical enough. These criticisms have put pressure on Reform – and they may push British politics even further right.

Joe Mulhall is director of research at the anti-fascism organisation Hope Not Hate

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