US vice president JD Vance said there should be ‘righteous anger’ in response to the murder of Henry Nowak, which he partly blamed on ‘the mass invasion of migrants’.
His extraordinary comments triggered a response from Downing Street, which hit out at ‘people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets’ over Mr Nowak’s case.
The 18-year-old student was handcuffed by police officers who ignored his pleas that he had been stabbed as he lay dying after his killer, Vickrum Digwa, claimed to have been the victim of a racist attack.
The Trump administration waded into the subsequent outcry, saying the case showed ‘two-tiered policing’ exists in the UK.
However No 10 hit back at the intervention from across the pond, criticising people ‘trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets’.
In his latest comments, Mr Vance said Mr Nowak’s death was ‘as tragic as it is enraging’.
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He added: ‘Each time a life like his is lost, the proper response – the only response – is righteous anger.
‘One of the most important things the Trump administration has proven to the world is that stopping the flow of mass migration and defending national sovereignty is a matter of political will and leadership.’
His call for ‘righteous anger’ came amid unrest in Southampton, where Mr Nowak was killed.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder.
‘They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes.
‘Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.’
Mr Vance’s words came after a statement from the US State Department claimed Mr Nowak’s death was a product of both ‘ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing’.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s department said: ‘Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline.
‘They must be rejected across the West.
‘The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.’
No 10 said it rejected ‘any suggestion’ of two-tier policing in the UK.
Digwa was jailed for a minimum of 21 years.
The police response to Mr Nowak’s case is being probed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
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