Politics LIVE: Police chief responds to Farage criticism as fury over Henry Nowak grows

Two men have been charged following the disorder in Southampton in the wake of the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s murderer.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Matt Styler, 50, has been charged with assaulting a police officer and Daniel Frost, 44, has been charged with violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon over the events in the south coast city on Tuesday evening.

The pair will appear at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The Labour MP for Southampton Itchen said “violence is not the answer” in response to the murder of Henry Nowak.

Darren Paffey told BBC Breakfast: “This is a country where we have rule of law, we don’t have vigilante justice, we don’t have people taking things into their own hands.”

Referencing comments by Mr Nowak’s family outside court, the Labour MP said: “They said very, very clearly that they did not want Henry’s murder and the horrendous circumstances that it happened in to be the cause of any violence.

“They said they wanted it to be a catalyst for safer streets.

“What we saw the night before last was the total opposite of that, and I’m afraid those who came to Southampton to whip it up should really hang their heads in shame.

“Of course, we’ve all got questions, we’ve all recoiled in horror at the body-cam footage that we’ve seen of what happened to Henry that night, but violence is not the answer.

“The answers to the questions that we all legitimately have were not helped one single bit by the violence that we saw.”

NHS staff should not be wearing badges that show their support for Israel or Palestine, a peer has said.

Lord John Mann, who is the Government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, is expected to publish a review today.

When asked about the wearing of political symbols by NHS staff, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "Don’t do it, don’t have it."

He added: "If we take the example of a dentist, if I’m in the dentist’s chair and the dentist’s about to drill my teeth, I don’t expect my dentist to be wearing an 'I love Palestine' badge, or indeed an 'I love Israel' badge on their uniform."

He said it will be up to the NHS to decide on what counts as a political symbol.

The Chief Constable of the force that arrested Henry Nowak has dismissed claims of two-tier policing as he rejected calls to resign.

Alexis Boon apologised for his officers “handcuffing and arresting Henry” as the teenager begged for help after being stabbed five times by Vickrum Digwa.

But he insisted the 18-year-old was not treated differently because of his race.

And Chief Constable Boon said the officers who handcuffed Mr Nowak after he was falsely accused of racism are no longer on frontline duties.

Read more here.

The BBC is in the firing line this morning after Restore Britain wrote a letter demanding the broadcaster explain why it had not put the party's candidate on the Makerfield by-election special of Question Time.

Rupert Lowe, the party's leader writes: "I make no secret of my disdain for the BBC. It has been a long-standing political aim of mine to defund your organisation, scrap the licence fee and make it a subscription service. To be blunt - put you out of a job."

He adds: "Your decision to exclude Restore Britain from the Makerfield by-election Question Time is the most blatant example of bias I have ever seen from your organisation."

Hampshire police officers reportedly felt pressured during diversity training, according to the Telegraph.

The paper reports that a day-long course called Inclusion Matters led to one in seven officers saying they experienced pressure "to be certain ways".

The course covered topics including racism, unconscious bias, privilege and “the importance of being an ally”.

The president of the National Black Police Association has warned of an “auto-correction” to policing in response to the murder of Henry Nowak.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer Andy George told the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “There’s definitely lessons to be learned from the Henry Nowak case and if the IOPC sees through their thorough investigation that there are things that need to be done and changed – then certainly that’s the time when things should be looked at.

“For us to go forward and for the policing minister to say ‘that needs to be corrected or looked into right now’ – for us, when we’ve pushed for things that impact black communities or black individuals, we’ve never seen policing move as quick as what they’re advocating for right now.

“So, I would say it is definitely an auto-correction – it’s very swift, it’s quick – I don’t think it’s as well thought-out as it should be.

“I think it’s reactive to the current swell that we’re seeing in social media and across different areas of public life at the minute.”

It is a “slur” on police officers working to keep the public safe to suggest that two-tier policing is taking place, a minister has said.

But Lucy Rigby, chief secretary to the treasury, said it is the “right thing to do” to look again at police equality guidance.

She told Sky News: “Really, 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.

“So, I think that the suggestion, in light of that, 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.”

Asked if it is possible the NPCC guidance to police has created an unequal system, she said: “I think it’s the right thing to do that that guidance is looked at, because the fundamental principle, as you know, that we have in this country is equality before the law.”