Zack Polanski shares guillotine image aimed at Farage with 713,000 followers, before deleting it
Reform UK has reported Green Party leader Zack Polanski to the police. The complaint concerns an Instagram post showing a man in a black t-shirt printed with a large guillotine and the words ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel’.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed it received a third-party report on Monday 27 July. ‘We take reports of this nature extremely seriously, and officers are conducting enquiries into the matter’, the force said in a statement reported by the Express.
Polanski shared the image with his 713,000 Instagram followers on Sunday. It appeared in a collaborative post of 20 images from a Green Party event, according to a BBC News report.
A Green Party spokesperson said Polanski was tagged in the post and ‘clicked accept without realising there was more to it than he had seen’. He removed the post as soon as the image was brought to his attention, the spokesperson said, adding: ‘He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message.’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage shared a screenshot of the image, writing: ‘If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.’
The phrase on the t-shirt comes from a 1979 song by the band XTC.
Reform UK calls it incitement to murder
Reform UK home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said the image showed ‘a photo of man calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage’ and claimed it could be ‘incitement to murder’.
‘To do this just two weeks after our friend Ann was murdered is staggering’, Yusuf said. He confirmed the party has reported the post to police and will also report Polanski to the monitoring officer at the Greater London Assembly, where the Green leader is an elected member.
Both Reform UK and the Green Party are funded mainly by donations and membership fees. The Green Party also receives some public money through standard grants available to opposition parties.
The photographer says it was satire
A freelance photographer using the username just.barold claimed responsibility for the photo on X. He apologised to Polanski, said ’this is not his fault’, and reported himself to the police.
‘This wasn’t intended to offend anyone and it’s clearly not intended as a serious threat to anyone’s safety whatsoever’, he wrote. His identity has not been confirmed beyond his own posts on the account.
Two weeks after Ann Widdecombe’s murder
The row comes shortly after the death of Ann Widdecombe, 78, a prominent Reform UK member. She was found dead at her home in Haytor Vale, Devon, on 9 July.
Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, has been charged with her murder and appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Police did not initially treat the case as politically motivated.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox and the fifth anniversary of the murder of Conservative MP David Amess.
The security row with the Home Office
Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick has accused the government of a ‘dereliction of duty’ over Farage’s security. It emerged the party turned down a government-funded security offer last year. The package included a trained driver, a car, and a bodyguard, but Reform viewed it as a 75% downgrade on its own arrangements.
The Home Office called Jenrick’s claims ‘categorically untrue’. It said independent security experts, not ministers, decide protection for MPs.
To do this just two weeks after our friend Ann was murdered is staggering.
Polanski has said he has received multiple threats himself. After Widdecombe’s death, he called for extra security for all party leaders, telling BBC Breakfast: ‘I am worried and I have been worried for a long time.’
BBC News did not state in its original report when the Metropolitan Police received the complaint. The force confirmed the report came in on Monday 27 July.
Police enquiries are ongoing. No arrests or charges have been made over the Instagram post, and the BBC understands Polanski has not been contacted by officers.
