Zack Polanski 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, 43, said he made an ‘inadvertent mistake’ but will not apologise for the post, which he shared to his 713,000 followers on Instagram on Monday.
The image featured a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message, ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’ and an image of a guillotine.
Mr Farage called for his political opponent to be arrested on Monday, while Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accused the Green leader of ‘inciting murder’. The party confirmed it had reported Mr Polanski to police.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force was ‘conducting inquiries’ and took ‘reports of this nature extremely seriously’.
In his first interview since the scandal erupted, Mr Polanski told BBC Newsnight that the police had not been in contact with him, adding he ‘didn’t pay enough attention to the T-shirt’ and was ‘horrified’ by its ‘dangerous message’.
The Green Party leader said during the programme on Tuesday night: ‘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.
Zack Polanski insisted he has not ‘done anything wrong’ after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt allegedly ‘inciting murder’
Mr Polanski told BBC Newsnight that the police had not been in contact with him, adding he was ‘horrified’ by the T-shirt’s ‘dangerous message’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for his political opponent to be arrested on Monday
‘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.’
Mr Polanski said he would not be apologising to Mr Farage, adding: ‘If I’d done it deliberately, I’d be apologising.
‘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.’
He added: ‘I believe in authenticity, and I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong here. I’ve made a mistake, but it wasn’t a purposeful mistake.
‘It’d be very easy to apologise, but actually I think it would be false. And if nothing else, I’m always going to stand by my convictions.
‘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 refused seven times when asked by presenter Victoria Derbyshire if he would say sorry for to Mr Farage.
Mr Polanski also revealed he is yet to pay any outstanding council tax bill he owes.
He said his local council has yet to tell him whether he faces a bill for unpaid tax, but added: ‘I want to pay it as soon as I can, if I have to pay anything.’
A Reform UK (RUK) source told BBC Newsnight: ‘It’s truly astonishing and quite frankly sickening that Zack Polanski won’t apologise.
‘He admits it was wrong. He admits it’s dangerous, but he still refuses to apologise.
‘Mr Polanski is not fit to lead a national political party.’
Asked about the row on Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said there was ‘a duty on all politicians to be careful about what they post’, especially in light of the death of former MP and RUK spokesman 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.
He added: ‘It’s not the first time Zack Polanski has done something like this.’
On Monday night, Lord Walney, the Government’s former adviser on political violence, was among the voices calling out Mr Polanski’s actions, and described the post as ‘sickening’.
Lord Walney told the Daily Mail: ‘There must be serious consequences for Zack Polanski after he shared material implying the assassination of another politician.
‘This would be sickening and unacceptable at any time but it is even more serious in the present environment in which a senior Reform member has been brutally killed.
‘The Green Party must be barred from participating alongside mainstream parties if it fails to take action against its leader.’
Manchester-based Sabcat Printing, which was selling the T-shirt for £20, listed it as ‘a cryptic design for difficult times’. It has since removed the item from its website
Nigel Farage has called for Zack Polanski to be arrested after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt ‘planning his decapitation’
A Green Party spokesman said on Monday that the now-deleted post had appeared as part of a social media ‘collaboration’.
They said: ‘After attending a public event, Zack accepted a request to collaborate on a post with several images.
‘Once this image was brought to his attention he immediately unshared the post. He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message.’
Following the furore, Sabcat Printing, based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, removed the T-shirt design from its website.
Sold for £20, the business listed the clothing item as ‘a cryptic design for difficult times’.
It is thought the shirt references a 1979 song title by English rock band XTC, but the addition of a guillotine suggests a darker statement.
The company added in the now-deleted description: ‘Who could Nigel be? And why the guillotine? Whether it’s a nod to the XTC classic or a sharper bit of political satire, this design is for those who prefer their statements with a side of mystery.’
By late on Monday evening the T-shirt had been removed from the company’s website.
Mr Polanski has previously run into trouble over his use of social media.
In May, he apologised for sharing a post criticising the police response to the Golders Green stabbings, saying he had done so ‘in haste’.

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