Reform report Green Party chief Zack Polanski to police over guillotine T-shirt submit
The image, which has now been unshared from Zack Polanski’s account, showed a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’ next to a guillotine
Zack Polanski has now unshared the image(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Police are conducting enquiries after Reform UK accused the Green Party leader of “inciting murder” over a picture shared on social media.
The image, which has now been unshared from Zack Polanski’s account, showed a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message “We’re only making plans for Nigel” next to a guillotine.
Senior minister Pat McFadden said politicians have a duty to be responsible, following a backlash.
The DWP Secretary told Sky News: “I think we’re all bearing in mind what’s recently happened to Ann Widdecombe, the most appalling murder of a former politician, and I think that gives a duty on all politicians to be careful about what they post, what they share.
“I think we’ve all got a duty to do that in the online world. People can make mistakes. It’s for the police to decide if there’s any further action to be taken.
“I think there’s a duty on all of us, in all political parties, to just be careful about what we post or share.”
Sharing a screenshot of the image, Nigel Farage wrote on X: “This is what Zack Polanski has just posted on his instagram.
“If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.”
Reform UK’s spokesperson for home affairs Zia Yusuf accused Mr Polanski of “inciting murder”, adding that sharing the image weeks after the death of Ann Widdecombe was “staggering”.
He said: “Zack Polanski has posted to his 713k Instagram followers a photo of a man in a T-shirt calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage.
“Polanski is inciting murder. It must be treated as such by the police.”
Confirming they were looking into it, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Earlier today – Monday, 27 July – we received a third-party report relating to an image shared on social media.
“We take reports of this nature extremely seriously, and officers are conducting inquiries into the matter.”
The Green Party said Mr Polanski “condemns the image on the T-shirt” and clicked accept to be tagged in a post with 20 images “without realising there was more to it than he had seen”.
A Green Party spokesperson said: “Zack condemns the image on the T-shirt. He was tagged in a post with 20 images and clicked accept without realising there was more to it than he had seen.
“The T-shirt is clearly in poor taste, especially at a time of heightened fears for the security of public figures having experienced multiple threats himself.
“He and the Green Party call on everyone involved in public discourse to show kindness and not encourage more division.”
