AFP, London

UK leader Keir Starmer yesterday accused US tech tycoon Elon Musk of “trying to whip up division” in Britain following anger over the police handling of the murder of a white student by a Sikh man.

The case of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who was put in handcuffs by police as he lay mortally wounded after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in the southern city of Southampton in December, has become highly politicised in the UK.

Digwa lied and told police he was the victim as Nowak had racially insulted him. Far-right figures have seized on the murder as an example that police forces in Britain treat white people and ethnic minorities differently -- an allegation Starmer’s Labour government and police chiefs vehemently deny.

Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has posted numerous times on the platform about the police response to the stabbing.

In one, he asked whether people knew that “official police policy requires them to be racist against Whites?”