Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has claimed that Nigel Farage’s response to the outbreak of violence over the murder of Henry Nowak means that he is unfit to be Prime Minister.

In an interview with GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, during the latest episode of Chopper’s Political Podcast, Thomas-Symonds said: “I was appalled. I was sat just a few spaces down from the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s Questions, and I just could not believe Nigel Farage didn’t start his question by condemning the violence.

“Because what Henry Nowak’s father had said was not to have his son’s brutal murder to be exploited politically or to be a reason to promote division or to promote hatred.

“And I thought ‘we as politicians all had a responsibility to do that’. Nobody is saying there aren’t profound lessons that we need to learn from this, but those appalling, despicable scenes we have seen of violence in Southampton, of violence towards the police, utterly appalling, should be totally condemned, and that Nigel Farage can’t bring himself to do that, I think says a great deal.”

Asked if question marks have been raised over his fitness for office, he said: “It makes him completely unfit, is the reality because prime ministers have to be able to bring the country together. It is a basic duty of politicians, in my opinion, in situations like this, to be able to condemn violence.

“We’re talking about a sentence or two that he had to utter at the start of that question. That was the moment at Prime Minister’s Questions. That’s the moment. That’s the bit of Parliament every week that the public watches.

“That’s what the public sees live. That was the opportunity to do it.”