.png)
1 hour ago
3
Minister dismisses ‘two-tier justice’ claim in light of Henry Nowak tragedy as ‘slur’ on police
Good morning. The most interesting event of the day may well turn out to be one taking place late tonight, when Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate for Makerfield and potential next PM, takes part in a BBC byelection Question Time special. Yesterday, Burnham said that at some point today he would give a more considered response to the Henry Nowak murder, and the issues it has raised about policing and race equality. It is not clear yet whether we will get that response on QT, or before.
But this morning the government seems to be firming up its opposition to those claiming that what happened to Nowak was evidence of “two-tier justice”. Reform UK is the main party using this phrase, but some Tories have made the same argument. Yesterday, Keir Starmer said he did not accept that Britain has two-tier policing. This morning Lucy Rigby, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has been doing an interview round, and she told Sky News this allegation was a “slur” on the police. Asked about the claim, she said:
Fundamentally, I think that is a slur on the thousands of police officers that go out to work every day, putting themselves in harm’s way to serve the public, to try and prevent crime, and to keep us all safe.
The suggestion that we have two-tier policing, which suggests at its heart that the police are on a sort of systemic basis pushing the interests of one group above another – I genuinely think is a slur on all those police officers that are serving this country day and night, seven days a week.
Here is our overnight story on the Nowak controversy, by Vikram Dodd, Peter Walker and Steven Morris.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
9.30am: The Department for Education publishes annual figures on the number of pupils and staff in schools.
Morning: Keir Starmer is on a visit in North Yorkshire, before attending the mayoral council, a summit with mayors from England.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Lunchtime: Peter Kyle, the business secretary, is speaking at a lobby lunch.
2pm: John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, takes questions from MSPs.
Afternoon: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in Warwickshire.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Key events
Jenrick claims it's 'ludicrous' to say Reform UK stoking divison over Nowak murder
Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson, was doing a media round this morning. Asked to respond to Labour claims that Nigel Farage was stoking divison in his response to the murder of Henry Nowak, Jenrick said that was a “ludicrous” claim. He said:
I was absolutely stunned by those ludicrous comments. There’s nothing that Nigel Farage has done which has encouraged division.
He has simply shown leadership in setting out the course of action that now needs to be taken to make sure that we fix this problem and treat everybody equally before the law.
In a TV address on Tuesday morning, Farage said people should respond to the killing with “pure cold rage” and he said he was afraid what would happen to Britain if “anti-white prejudice” was not stamped out quickly.
There will be one urgent question in the Commons, at 10.30am, on Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. A Foreign Office minister will reply. Then, after business questions, Josh MacAlister, minister for children, will give a statement on a family reunion scheme for children in care.
Reform UK gets £9m in donations in first quarter of 2026, including £7m from two crypto billionaires
The Electoral Commission has published its figures for donations to political parties in the first quarter of 2026 and they show that Reform UK was given £9m. Lucy White from Bloomberg was the first with the numbers.
NEW: Reform UK has once again smashed party donation totals, raising more than £9m in the first quarter. Boosted by another £3m from Thailand-based crypto investor Harborne - just before Labour capped donations from overseas - and £4m from crypto entrepreneur Ben Delo
We knew about the Delo donation. As Rowena Mason reported in April, Delo, a British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business, said that he had given Reform UK £4m this year.
Delo has also said that he is going to move back to the UK so that he won’t be affected by the Labour legislation imposing a £100,000 a year cap on how much people living abroad can donate to political parties.
The ban came into force on 25 March, the day it was announced by Steve Reed, the communities secretary. It will affect Christopher Harborne, another cryptocurrency billionaire who is Reform UK’s biggest donor. He is a British citizen but lives in Thailand and he gave the party £12m last year.
Today’s figures show that he also gave Reform UK £3m in the first quarter of this year – suggesting that the money was handed over shortly before the cap came into force.
Minister dismisses ‘two-tier justice’ claim in light of Henry Nowak tragedy as ‘slur’ on police
Good morning. The most interesting event of the day may well turn out to be one taking place late tonight, when Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate for Makerfield and potential next PM, takes part in a BBC byelection Question Time special. Yesterday, Burnham said that at some point today he would give a more considered response to the Henry Nowak murder, and the issues it has raised about policing and race equality. It is not clear yet whether we will get that response on QT, or before.
But this morning the government seems to be firming up its opposition to those claiming that what happened to Nowak was evidence of “two-tier justice”. Reform UK is the main party using this phrase, but some Tories have made the same argument. Yesterday, Keir Starmer said he did not accept that Britain has two-tier policing. This morning Lucy Rigby, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has been doing an interview round, and she told Sky News this allegation was a “slur” on the police. Asked about the claim, she said:
Fundamentally, I think that is a slur on the thousands of police officers that go out to work every day, putting themselves in harm’s way to serve the public, to try and prevent crime, and to keep us all safe.
The suggestion that we have two-tier policing, which suggests at its heart that the police are on a sort of systemic basis pushing the interests of one group above another – I genuinely think is a slur on all those police officers that are serving this country day and night, seven days a week.
Here is our overnight story on the Nowak controversy, by Vikram Dodd, Peter Walker and Steven Morris.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
9.30am: The Department for Education publishes annual figures on the number of pupils and staff in schools.
Morning: Keir Starmer is on a visit in North Yorkshire, before attending the mayoral council, a summit with mayors from England.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Lunchtime: Peter Kyle, the business secretary, is speaking at a lobby lunch.
2pm: John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, takes questions from MSPs.
Afternoon: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in Warwickshire.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
