Wire flash
BBC host presses Green Party leader over guillotine post targeting Farage
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Source reporting is collected, normalized, translated or condensed automatically when needed.
- Automatically published source-backed update
BBC Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire clashed with Green Party leader Zack Polanski after he was reported to police for resharing an Instagram post featuring a man wearing a t-shirt with a guillotine outline and the words 'We're only making plans for Nigel,' a reference to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Reform UK accused Polanski of incitement to violence. Polanski later deleted the post and condemned the image, but refused to apologize to Farage during the interview, arguing Farage had cropped the image to make it appear Polanski had posted it himself, amplifying its reach. Polanski admitted he made an 'inadvertent mistake' and condemned all political violence, but criticized the 'disproportionality' of the police referral. Derbyshire suggested voters could see Polanski as 'careless' with responsibilities if he were prime minister. Police said they were conducting enquiries but had not yet spoken to Polanski directly.
Source report
Victoria Derbyshire confronted Green Party leader Zack Polanski on BBC Newsnight after he was reported to police for resharing an Instagram post about Nigel Farage.
Reform UK accused Polanski of "incitement to violence" after he accepted a collaboration on a series of photos. One image showed a man wearing a t-shirt featuring an outline of a guillotine with the words: "We're only making plans for Nigel."
Polanski later deleted the entire post. A spokesperson said he "condemns" the image.
Police confirmed they were "conducting enquiries" on Tuesday but are not believed to have spoken directly to the Green Party leader yet.
The Newsnight Exchange
During the BBC Newsnight interview, Derbyshire asked Polanski if he wanted to apologise to Farage.
Polanski replied: "No, the reason for that is that when I posted it – or this person posted it – it got less than a 1,000 likes.
"Nigel Farage then took it, cropped it, which made it look like I had posted it which I think was fundamentally dishonest – it's now had 3.2 million views.
"This whole conversation has been seen more because I think Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Zia Yusuf posted it.
"I'm accepting that responsibility in that I shouldn't have accepted that collaboration, I'm accepting that we all need to condemn political violence, but I also think the reporting to the police, the ramping up of the language to say this is incitement to murder to me feels like it's also putting me in a dangerous spot."
Polanski said it was "quite obvious he had not done anything wrong apart from make an inadvertent mistake".
He also stated he "condemns all political violence" and criticised the "disproportionality" of reporting around the incident.
When Derbyshire pressed again on whether he would apologise, Polanski said: "If Nigel Farage wanted to apologise for all the times he's put other people in danger, then I'll be happy to make an apology."
Previous Controversy
Polanski has previously faced backlash for retweeting criticism of the police who dealt with the Golders Green attack. He apologised at the time "for sharing the post in haste" and made a commitment "to be better on my social media".
Derbyshire's Challenge
Derbyshire suggested it would be fair for voters to assume Polanski could be "careless" with his responsibilities if he were ever prime minister.
Polanski responded: "It's my job to make sure I build trust, through my action and my behaviour."
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week's biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what's going on at Westminster.
Source
HuffPost UK - Athena2 - All Entries (Public)Western
Part of this Story
Reform UK Reports Green Party Leader Over Guillotine Image of Farage