Kemi Badenoch on GMB (Image: ITV)

Presenter Ed Balls and leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, clashed live on air on Tuesday morning. The politician appeared on Good Morning Britain as she reacted to UK Reform leader Nigel Farage’s address in relation to the shocking case of Henry Nowak’s murder.

As she slammed Farage for using the tragic case as a political point, Balls quickly accused her of doing the same. She went on a rant as she said: “What I do not like is seeing Nigel Farage jump on this issue when he doesn’t do any work and he doesn’t turn up to parliament. He doesn’t take things seriously, but he sees this as an opportunity for him to grandstand. I am not grandstanding. I will say that a lot more needs to be done.” She added that more needs to be done in terms of how the police are conducting themselves.

Ed Balls quizzed the politician on her stance (Image: ITV)

But then Balls cut in as he stopped her in her tracks. Referring to an emotional press address from Henry’s father yesterday, he pointed out that the late teen’s parent said that “we shouldn’t use his son’s murder for political purposes.”

The presenter then asked: “You’re saying that Nigel Farage is doing that. Are you doing that as well, or are you talking about policing?”

But Badenoch quickly hit back as she said: “I’m talking about how we need to change policing. I am not making this about the Conservative Party, but I’m also not making this about white people or black people.

“I think it was wrong for him [Farage] to do that. We have been racialising too many things, and I did say it at the time that for a lot of the people who were pushing for more specific policies for Black people, for Asians and for ethnic minorities, that a backlash will come.”

She went on: “Nigel Farage is taking sides. I am not taking sides. I am saying ‘enough of this. We need to stop this racialising of our society.’”

Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for a minimum of 21 years. He was found guilty of using a 21cm (8in) blade, which he said he carried as part of his Sikh faith, to stab 18-year-old Nowak in Southampton in December.

Digwa had lied to the police about being the victim of a racist attack, and officers arrested and handcuffed Nowak as he lay dying on the ground.