Zack Polanski said he had ‘shared inadvertently’ the image on Instagram, which featured a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’ and an image of a guillotine
Zack Polanski has repeatedly refused to apologise to Nigel Farage for his guillotine T-shirt post.
The Green Party leader said he had “shared inadvertently” the image on Instagram, which featured a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message “We’re only making plans for Nigel” and an image of a guillotine.
In a furious response, Reform UK home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accused the Green leader of “inciting murder” while Nigel Farage demanded his arrest.
Appearing on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday night, Mr Polanski said he would not be apologising to Mr Farage. He said: “If I’d done it deliberately, I’d be apologising.
Mr Polanski continued: “But because this was a mistake, I think the important thing is that I point out it’s a mistake, that I also make sure that I condemn political violence, and also crucially, I make a commitment to be better on my social media.
“If Nigel Farage wants to apologise for all the times that he’s put other people in danger, then I’ll be happy to make an apology.”
Mr Polanski also repeated his explanation that he made an “inadvertent mistake” over the social media image.
He said: “This was not my post, it was a collaboration from a photographer. It had 20 images and I just didn’t look carefully enough and I accepted it.
“As soon as I was aware of what happened, I unaccepted it and took it down. I think it would be odd for the police to speak to me about that because I think it’s quite obvious that I’ve not done anything wrong other than making an inadvertent mistake.
“That being said, if the police do want to talk to me, of course I’m very happy to co-operate.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force was “conducting inquiries” and took “reports of this nature extremely seriously”.
Asked about the row on Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden urged politicians “to be careful about what they post”, especially in light of the death of former MP Ann Widdecombe earlier this month.
Mr McFadden told Sky News people could “make mistakes” and it was for the police to decide if any action was needed.
Earlier this year, Mr Polanski apologised for sharing a post criticising the police response to the Golders Green stabbings, saying he had done so “in haste”.