Sir Keir Starmer rounded on Zack Polanski after he was forced to apologises for sharing a tweet which accused Met Police officers of using excessive force when detaining a suspect in the Golders Green stabbing.
The Green Party leader was criticised yesterday by Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley, for sharing a post on social media which accused officers of repeatedly kicking the suspect in the head after he had been incapacitated.
Sir Mark has told how officers feared that the alleged attacker may have had a bomb, given the way he responded to being detained, and praised their bravery.
Mr Polanski said he had shared the tweet “in haste”.
Zack Polanski’s criticism of the police officers response to the Golders Green attack was disgraceful.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 1, 2026
He’s not fit to lead any political party. pic.twitter.com/KP7rLQ2R5h
But Sir Keir tore into the Green Leader, saying: “Zack Polanski’s criticism of the police officers response to the Golders Green attack was disgraceful.
“He’s not fit to lead any political party.”
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Mr Polanski said: “Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste.
“Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so.
“I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.”
It comes after Sir Mark wrote a public letter to Mr Polanski saying he was “disappointed” by the repost, which he labelled “inaccurate” and “misinformed”.
He said it had a “casual disregard for the incredibly challenging and dangerous work police officers do to protect the public”.
“It is entirely possible the author of the post you retweeted had direct experience from the scene, or has years of experience handling complex, violent situation[s],” he said in a public statement to Mr Polanski.
“Yet I suspect the more likely scenario is that they [are] another armchair critic, who thinks they could do the job, possibly more effectively than the brave officers who successfully detained that individual.”
Met Police published footage of the arrest on their social media channels on Wednesday. Two officers approach the suspect, who appears to be carrying a weapon, before tasering him.
The suspect then falls, as one officer moves to remove what appears to be a knife from his hand.
During the struggle, the officer is seen kicking at the weapon while a member of the public steps in to assist.
At the same time, the second officer can be heard shouting “drop the knife, drop the f***ing knife”.
The weapon is then removed and the man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Mr Rowley has said officers thought the suspect could have an explosive device.
On his decision to write a letter to the leader of the Green Party, Sir Mark said: "I'm not intervening in politics. He was intervening in operational policing.”
On Friday, the Met chief doubled down on his criticism of Mr Polanski, telling Times Radio his officers “were frightened and they were acting according to that”.
“I need officers to feel they've got public confidence when they're doing things like that,” he said.
