A senior London MP is urging political leaders not to “pit” the tragedies suffered by the families of Stephen Lawrence and Henry Nowak against each other.
Labour MP Clive Efford, who represents Eltham, where Mr Lawrence was murdered, and Chislehurst, said there were “similarities” between the two cases.
But he stressed that there was “nothing” in the Macpherson Inquiry into Mr Lawrence’s death and the police investigation which could have led the police officers to act in the way that they did when dealing with Mr Nowak’s situation.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife, before telling police at the scene that he had been the victim of a racist attack.
In body-worn camera footage from the incident, Mr Nowak, 18, can be heard repeatedly saying: “I’ve been stabbed”, to which an officer replies: “Don’t think you have, mate.”
Mr Efford spoke out after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that the killing of student Mr Nowak was a “seminal moment for Britain”, comparing it with the murder of teenager Mr Lawrence in 1993.
It comes as protesters hurled missiles at police on Tuesday in clashes in Southampton close to where Mr Nowak was stabbed to death in December 2025.
Hundreds had gathered outside Southampton Central Police Station, with activist Tommy Robinson and Laurence Fox among those addressing the crowd.
Eleven police officers and one police dog were injured in the violence.
Stephen Lawrence was an 18-year-old student from Woolwich who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in April 1993.
The fallout from his killing included changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Mrs Badenoch said: “Henry’s murder and the police’s botched response must be a seminal moment for Britain on a par with the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager killed in 1993, which precipitated the Macpherson Report six years later, which found the Metropolitan Police to be ‘institutionally racist’.
“Stephen’s murder forced the country to confront the intolerable and say: ‘This is not who we are’. Indeed, many battles have been won in making our society better and fairer since then.”
Mrs Badenoch also criticised Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for saying the “rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities”.
She stressed: “This is simply the language of the Black Lives Matter movement in reverse – inflaming tensions...it is toxic tribal politics that divides our country.”
Speaking to The Standard about comparisons between the two cases, Mr Efford said: “There are similarities in the sense that the police mishandled the investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s murder.
“Clearly there were things that were not right about the scene from the body cameras at the time of Henry Nowak’s death.
“But we can’t get into a situation where politicians pit one family’s tragedy against another’s for political gain.
“There is nothing in the Macpherson Inquiry that would lead to the police behaving in the way that they did at the scene of Henry Nowak’s death.”
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan praised the dignity of the Nowak family and added: "There are serious questions about the police response, which is why I'm pleased the police watchdog are looking into the response.”
In the Commons, several London MPs spoke during a debate on Mr Nowak’s murder.
Ilford South Labour MP Jas Athwal accused some politicians of using it to “fan the flames of division”.
Leyton and Wanstead Labour MP Calvin Bailey stressed there was “nothing in the Macpherson Inquiry that can be blamed for the apparent lack of humanity displayed in the body-worn camera footage”.
Florence Eshalomi, Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, warned of an “epidemic” of knife crime leading to tragedies for too many families in London and other parts of the country.
Mr Farage described Mr Nowak’s death as “a watershed moment for this country”.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said the nation needs “to take a step back and take a long, hard look at ourselves and ask what on earth we have become”.
He said the behaviour of police officers responding to Mr Nowak’s stabbing “shocked so many of us to the core” and said an “accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder”.
“Those images are impossible to watch without feeling a profound sense of anger,” he said.
Policing minister Sarah Jones said Mr Nowak’s death must not be used to stir up hatred and division.
The MP for Croydon West, though, said police anti-racism guidelines were "not right".
She told the BBC: “I know what I've seen in the video, and of course it seems to be horrifically wrong."
She emphasised the “sacred duty” for police to “act without fear or favour” and that “everybody is equal under the law”.
She condemned the violent protests in Southampton as “unacceptable” and told how a police officer wrongly identified as being involved in the case had had to move home due to death threats.
She stressed there was still discrimination in the policing system against black people.
