Zack Polanski has refused to apologise to Nigel Farage for re-posting a photo of a man wearing a t-shirt with an image of a guillotine and the slogan “we’re only making plans for Nigel”.
On Sunday, Polanski accepted a collaborator request on an Instagram post which featured several images from a Green Party event in Bristol.
One of the images showed a man wearing a T-shirt featuring a guillotine alongside the lyrics “we’re only making plans for Nigel” from the 1979 XTC song, a slogan widely interpreted as a reference to the Reform UK leader.
Farage and Reform reported Polanski to the police over the post, with Farage writing in a post on X: “If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.”
The Green Party said he had simply accepted an invitation to collaborate on it and had not created the original content.
A party spokesperson said the image was removed as soon as it was brought to his attention.
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But in his first interview since the controversy, Polanski refused to apologise to Farage for the post.
Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on Newsnight, Polanski was asked on three occasions if he would apologise, and each time refused to.
Polanski said that the post was a mistake which he accepts was wrong and that he condemns political violence.
He went on to say that if he had shared the post deliberately, he would be apologising.
Polanski also accused Farage of “ramping up” the issue in a “fundamentally dishonest way.”
The Green leader argued that if he apologised then Farage “would run all over social media saying he was correct about incitement to murder and this would all ramp up again.”
“I think it’s important that I draw a line and don’t play his game,” he said. “It is important that he’s kept safe, it is important we condemn political violence, but I also recognise this as the political attack that it is.”
Polanski also pointed to times when Farage himself has also been accused of incitement and has refused to apologise, adding: “If Nigel Farage wants to apologise for all the times that he’s put other people in danger then I will be happy to make an apology.”