Zack Polanski has refused to apologise for sharing an image of a man wearing a t-shirt that called for the decapitation of Nigel Farage.
The Green Party leader was hauled in for a BBC Newsnight grilling over the row on Tuesday night – but claimed it was “quite obvious” he had not “done anything wrong, other than make an inadvertent mistake”.
He then said it would be “odd” for police to question him over the image of a man in a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words: “We’re only making plans for Nigel,” alongside a guillotine.
Mr Polanski had “collaborated” on the post with multiple Instagram users – meaning it appeared on his profile the same way any other photo would.
But he admitted he “didn’t pay enough attention to the t-shirt” in question.
“If I’d done it deliberately I’d be apologising,” he added.
But he refused to issue an apology to Mr Farage.
“When the person posted it, it got less than 1,000 likes… It’s now had 3.2 million views. So actually this has been seen more because [Nigel] Farage, Zia Yusuf and Richard Tice posted it.”
On Monday night, Reform had reported Mr Polanski to the police over “incitement to murder”.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK had reported Zack Polanski to the police over ‘incitement to murder’
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PA
The party called the post “a clear call to political violence, sanctioned and shared by the Green Party leader”.
The Metropolitan Police are now conducting inquiries after the report.
Reform UK’s London Assembly Members submitted a formal code of conduct complaint against the Green leader on Tuesday.
City Hall’s Monitoring Officer will now consider the complaint.
If he decides there is a case to answer, a misconduct probe into Mr Polanski, also a London Assembly member, could follow.
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Zack Polanski was hauled in for a BBC Newsnight grilling over the T-shirt post on Tuesday night
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BBC
A Green Party spokesman has said Mr Polanski “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 spokesman added.
“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.”
Alongside the police reports, the post had sparked a major free speech row.
Reform figures said the post was only pouring fuel on the fire of political tensions just days after Ann Widdecombe was killed
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GETTYSome questioned whether Mr Polanski should face the law, as did Lucy Connolly, the woman who was jailed for a social media post in which she called to “set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the bastards for all I care”.
Reform figures said the image was only pouring fuel on the fire of political tensions just days after Ann Widdecombe was killed in her own home.
The party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: “If a council candidate for Reform posted a threat to kill a left wing politician it would lead every news cycle in the country for days.”
But others, including free speech advocate and Tory peer Lord Hannan, said the debate was “very disappointing”.
“We are defining incitement in ludicrously broad terms. It should not cover tasteless online posts. Being a bit of a d**k is not a criminal offence,” he said.