Nigel Farage has accused Zack Polanski of helping to make Reform politicians “legitimate targets” after a controversial post appeared on the Green leader’s social media.
The Reform leader claimed Mr Polanski had fuelled hostility by sharing an image that, in Mr Farage’s view, appeared to glorify violence against him. Mr Polanski has not apologised.
The row centres on an Instagram post featuring a man wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon guillotine and the words: “We’re only making plans for Nigel.”
Mr Polanski has since deleted the post from his account, which is followed by more than 700,000 people.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Farage said the Green leader had contributed to a climate of hatred directed at him and at Reform UK.
He wrote: “In recent years I have had everything from milkshakes to stones thrown at me, been hit over the head with placards, seen my home attacked.
“And all the while, hostile media commentators and political opponents have sought to stir up hatred by slandering me and Reform as fascists and racists – effectively labelling us as legitimate targets.”
Reform has reported Mr Polanski to the police over alleged incitement to violence, but the Green leader has refused to apologise to Mr Farage.
Zack Polanski on Tuesday night insisted he has not ‘done anything wrong’ after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt which Reform claims ‘incites the murder of Nigel Farage’
Mr Polanski allowed an image of a man whose t-shirt depicts a cartoon image of a guillotine with the words, ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’ to appear on his Instagram – just weeks after Reform’s Ann Widdecombe was brutally killed
Nigel Farage blasted Zack Polanski for creating ‘legitimate targets’ of Reform politicians in a piece for the Daily Mail
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed on Tuesday officers are ‘conducting enquiries’ after receiving a ‘third-party report relating to an image shared on social media’.
The Daily Mail understands Mr Polanski has not yet been contacted by the police.
But the Green leader drew widespread criticism on Tuesday from across the political spectrum over the post – including from his own party.
Responding to the photographer who had snapped the original image, Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake wrote on X: ‘The man is an idiot for wearing it, the printer is an idiot making it, you’re an idiot for posting it.’
And Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said it was ‘not the first time Zack Polanski has done something like this’.
Reform’s economics spokesperson Robert Jenrick said the image shared by Mr Polanski showed he ‘isn’t fit to lead a national political party’.
And former deputy leader of the Greens Shahrar Ali accused Mr Polanski of ‘hypocrisy’, after he defended the police arresting Graham Linehan for social media posts allegedly inciting violence.
The comedy writer received a bumper pay-out and an apology from the police for ‘shortcomings’ in his arrest.
Mr Ali asked: ‘Will Polanski refer himself to police in all consistency for doing far worse?’
Green Party insiders were also expressing frustration over Mr Polanski’s ‘trigger-happy’ approach to social media.
One source told the Daily Mail that Mr Polanski ‘needs to put down the phone’.
They said: ‘The reliance on collaborations for content is starting to wear thin. He’s the leader of a political party, he should have his own photographer and videographer to produce content that he can vet, but clearly the national party isn’t funding that.’
And another Green Party source said: ‘There’s been a growing concern internally about Zack’s very trigger-happy approach to social media. It’s certainly one of the biggest headaches for party press officers I’ve heard.’
This comes as the Green Party suffered its lowest share of the vote since October last year when Mr Polanski became leader, according to the results of a poll this week.
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.’
