Lammy told the BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” programme that he called Vance on Saturday — the day before the interview — and directly challenged the vice-president’s characterisation of the case. “I told him he was wrong,” Lammy said. He described the conversation as “agreeable” but “robust,” adding that he reminded Vance that Nowak’s father, Mark, had “called for calm” following the sentencing. “We remain colleagues and friends, we’re able to do that, and he has strongly held views,” Lammy said.
Vance posted his comments to X on Friday. He wrote that Nowak had died “the same way a civilisation dies: abandoned and handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him.” The killing, Vance said, would not have happened “if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants.” Lammy told the BBC he rejected the “caricature of Western civilisation and its perceived decline.”
The case that Vance referenced stems from the stabbing death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak in Southampton in December 2025. Vickrum Digwa, born in the UK, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Digwa initially told police he had been the victim of a racist attack and had acted in self-defence; bodycam footage showed officers handcuffing Nowak as he lay dying from a stab wound while Digwa made false claims. Digwa also said he carried the blade for religious reasons linked to his Sikh faith — a claim the court rejected.
The killing sparked violent protests in Southampton and a wider national debate about policing and knife laws. Nowak’s father, Mark, appealed for calm after sentencing, saying: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.”
The UK government has rejected Vance’s characterisation. A Downing Street spokesperson criticised “people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division,” the BBC reported. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating Hampshire Police’s handling of the incident, and the head of Hampshire Police has apologised for handcuffing Nowak.
A separate controversy involves a National Police Chiefs’ Council document outlining anti-racism commitments. The document states that racial equality “does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind.’” On Tuesday, the NPCC said it would review the language used in the document. Speaking to the BBC, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf argued there was a direct link between what he called police “guidance” and what happened to Nowak. Asked if he believed the police were institutionally racist, Yusuf said yes, citing the NPCC document as evidence. He added that Reform UK would continue to “make the argument” and that “nobody is going to guilt trip us into not making these arguments.”
Lammy, asked about the NPCC document, said “we are all equal before the law” but acknowledged that “on arrest, on prosecution, conviction, I’m afraid in our prisons, ethnic minorities are disproportionately in the criminal justice system.” He added that Britain had “moved on from that period of institutional racism” that was “very real” in past decades, and that this was “not my experience when I see policing.”
The call between Lammy and Vance is the latest episode in a relationship that has drawn attention for its cross-party, cross-Atlantic closeness. The two developed a friendship when Lammy was a backbench opposition MP and Vance had just been elected to the US Senate. Last summer, Vance and his family stayed with Lammy at his grace-and-favour home, Chevening, during a UK holiday. More recently, US-UK relations have been strained over differences in approach to the war in Iran, with the British government declining to join the Trump administration’s offensive military action in the Gulf.