As tensions flared in the UK after the killing of teenager Henry Nowak, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged the public to tune out US Vice President JD Vance and instead heed the Nowak family’s appeal for calm.
Speaking in Dublin, the now Independent MP addressed a week of violent clashes between English nationalists and police that followed the December 2025 death of 18-year-old Mr Nowak in Southampton.
Mr Nowak was stabbed by 23-year-old British-born Vickrum Digwa, who claimed he had been the victim of a racist attack.
Police later arrived at the scene, handcuffed Mr Nowak and did not believe him when he said he had been stabbed.
After Digwa was on Monday jailed for life, Mr Vance wrote on social media yesterday that: “Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit”.
A UK government spokesperson denounced Mr Vance’s comments, saying “have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets”.
But Mr Corbyn, arriving at the Robert Tressell festival in the RDS, said the US vice president’s remarks — and the figures amplifying them — should be disregarded.
“What happened to Henry Nowak was appalling and tragic, by all accounts a decent young man causing no trouble to anybody is wantonly stabbed to death.
“The police response is to make a totally wrong judgement and fail to protect him when he needed protection,” Mr Corbyn said.
He went on to argue that political opportunism in the wake of the killing was compounding the harm. “The idea JD Vance or the far-right British politicians would take advantage is absolutely appalling. I think people should listen to Henry Nowak’s dad, he didn’t want this, he didn’t want the far-right division and racism.
“He wanted people to respect his son’s life and respect his family’s need to grieve.
“So, I would respectfully say to JD Vance, we don’t need your comments, all we need now is respect for the Nowak family and a very full investigation into why the police behaved the way they did.”
