ZACK Polanski has said he made an "inadvertent mistake" in resharing a social media post that has sparked outrage from Reform UK politicians, but has refused to apologise directly to Nigel Farage.
The post, which the Green Party of England and Wales said he “shared inadvertently” on Instagram and then removed, featured a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message “We’re only making plans for Nigel” and an image of a guillotine.
Reform UK said the party has reported Polanski to the police, with home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accusing the Green leader of “inciting murder” and Nigel Farage calling for his arrest.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force was “conducting inquiries” and took “reports of this nature extremely seriously”.
Polanski has maintained that the police have not yet contacted him , saying on Newsnight: “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.”
Polanski told the BBC political show on Tuesday evening that he “didn’t pay enough attention to the T-shirt” when skimming through the images, and was “horrified” by its “dangerous message”.
The Green Party leader said: “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.
“As soon as I was aware of what happened, I unaccepted it and took it down.
"Do you want to apologise to [Nigel Farage] or not?" "No" Zack Polanski tells @vicderbyshire that it was a "mistake" to reshare the guillotine T-shirt post on social media, adding: "If I’d done it deliberately I’d be apologising.”#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/lkz9V22n09
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) July 28, 2026
Polanski said he would not be apologising to 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: “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.”
He also made a commitment to be "better with [his] social media," adding that he "condemns political violence".
A "senior" Reform UK source told BBC Newsnight in response to Polanski's comments: “It’s truly astonishing and quite frankly sickening that Zack Polanski won’t apologise for inciting murder.
“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.”
Polanski, when offered a right to reply on the show, said: "I think the point is that Nigel Farage, or whoever that was, has said that I've committed incitement to murder, I think that's an absurd claim.
"That's exactly why I've not given an apology, I think Reform have just proven my point".
