Events this week related to the case of murdered white teenager Henry Nowak – wrongly accused of racism – precipitated some of the most tense days in Britain since riots erupted in the summer of 2024 following the Southport stabbings.The immediate threat of further public disorder appears to have receded but a fraught political atmosphere remains.As England, in particular, faces into a long, hot World Cup summer with hordes of flag-waving fans likely to be drinking in public and with national identity to the fore, many politicians in Westminster and senior police officers fear the potential for more trouble.With the political system in flux, who can cool the soaring temperature over issues around migration and race in Tinderbox Britain?Seemingly not the hard-right populists who have homed in on the Nowak case.“What did they [the establishment] think was going to happen?” said anti-immigration and radical right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, speaking to The Irish Times after nationalist riots broke out this week in Southampton over Nowak’s murder.Robinson was among those who had called for protesters to assemble to show their anger over the case, which had sparked allegations – rejected by police and the UK government – that anti-white prejudice and “two-tier policing” played a role.Robinson, who is also sometimes referred to in reports by his original name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, alleged the Nowak case proved that “whites are now treated differently”.[ Starmer condemns ‘disgraceful’ attacks on police after Henry Nowak murder caseOpens in new window ]“At some point, s**t is going to explode,” he said.The UK government, meanwhile, accuses Robinson and others on the populist right, such as Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, of stoking division in Britain over the case.Signals had begun to emerge weeks ago during the trial of Nowak’s murderer that suggested the case had the potential to spark trouble.Henry Nowak was stabbed in December 2025. Photograph: Hampshire Police Nowak (18) was a first-year student at university in Southampton, when he went on a night out in early December last year. CCTV footage showed him at a bar in the city where he drank a little before heading back towards his accommodation.On his way home that night he encountered Sikh man Vickrum Digwa (23), who was openly carrying a ceremonial blade related to his faith. Nowak videoed him and asked if he was a “badman”. Digwa snatched Nowak’s phone and stabbed him.The assailant’s brother reported the incident to police as a racist attack by the white student. When police arrived Digwa repeated this false claim and officers initially handcuffed and arrested Nowak as he lay dying on the ground. Digwa was later arrested when officers realised it was the student who had been attacked by his accuser.Digwa’s assertions were dismissed as “lies” during the court case. Harrowing footage of the dying Nowak’s arrest was played in the courtroom.Video released by police from the scene where Henry Nowak was stabbed to death in Southampton Around May 20th Robinson had posted his outrage on social media about some of Nowak’s reported last words as he lay dying: “I can’t breathe.” It was redolent of George Floyd, a black man who died at the hands of police in the US in 2020. That case had been a cause celebre for left-wing activists. Now it was the right’s turn.Robinson’s post caught the attention of X’s billionaire owner Elon Musk, a financial supporter of his and also one of the closest allies of US president Donald Trump.“I am happy to fund a wrongful-death lawsuit against these disgusting excuses for law enforcement,” Musk tweeted in response to Robinson’s message, referring to the actions of police who handled the incident. “They damn well better have been fired.”[ Elon Musk accused of ‘interfering’ in British politics with posts on Henry Nowak deathOpens in new window ]Musk has tweeted almost constantly about the case since. By this weekend he had racked up close to 100 messages on the issue.Digwa was found guilty of murder on Thursday last week. On Monday this week he was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison. The harrowing footage of Nowak’s final moments was also publicly released, sparking a furore across the political spectrum but especially among the populist right, who saw it as evidence of anti-white prejudice.Tommy Robinson, also known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, at the protest in Southampton. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Early on Tuesday Farage issued a video statement saying people should respond to what happened to Nowak with “cold rage”. Hours later, Robinson also urged his followers to converge that evening outside Southampton police station to protest.A section later broke away and tried to reach the street of Digwa’s family home. When police tried to stop them, protesters hurled bricks, bottles and wheelie bins. Most mainstream politicians have tried to cool the atmosphere since Tuesday’s disorder. But not Farage, who said what happened in Southampton was “only the beginning”.The UK government condemned Tuesday’s violence while prime minister Keir Starmer promised that rioters would face “the full force of the law”, as others had in 2024. Robinson, meanwhile, says the mood that led to violence should be no surprise.“I didn’t go [to Southampton] for any trouble,” said Robinson, whose critics, meanwhile, routinely denounce him as an “agitator”.Robinson is unrepentant. He says that policies designed to encourage police to deal fairly with ethnic minorities, which were brought in to tackle systemic discrimination highlighted in previous reports, have tipped the balance unfairly against whites.Though the behaviour of police in Nowak’s case has been almost universally condemned, Robinson’s wider point is difficult to prove with official statistics. They suggest that the proportion of prisoners in England and Wales who are ethnic minorities is roughly twice as high as their proportion in the population, suggesting that minorities may be over-policed, not white people.Blood is seen on riot police shields as protesters confront riot police near the location where Henry Nowak died. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, warned that claims of anti-white bias could drive policing “back to the 1960s”. Yet Robinson believes that an “entire race” [whites] has been “betrayed” in Britain.“We didn’t have any of this in our generation. We talk about it on WhatsApp groups I’m in with for my old school. Whites and blacks were schooled together. Any of the black lads who had a Dad around went on to do well in life. Any who didn’t are in jail. Same with the white boys. There is no white privilege.”Nowak’s family pleaded publicly for his murder not to be used to justify violence by protesters. After the violence Robinson was also among those to retweet messages calling for restraint. Farage was also hit with a wave of opprobrium from fellow MPs in the House of Commons over his interventions, for which he was accused to stoking tensions for political ends.By Thursday even Trump’s US administration, ever on the lookout for causes that chime for the US president, had become involved in the debate.“Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilisational decline. They must be rejected across the West,” said the US state department. “The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”JD Vance, the US vice-president, in a post on X on Friday, blamed the murder of Nowak on mass migration, just hours after Starmer rejected the US government’s claim that there was “two-tier policing” in the UK. Musk was widely denounced across Westminster for his “interference” in British politics. Meanwhile, it was being reported by the weekend that Sikhs were scared to go out in public in Southampton. Britain remains on edge, riven with racial tensions.