"A mistake" | Zack Polanski responds to ‘Nigel’ t-shirt row after being reported to police by Reform

Green Party of England and Wales leader Zack Polanski says he “didn’t look carefully enough” at an Instagram post on his account featuring a photo of a man wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a guillotine and the words ‘making plans for Nigel’ on it, but didn’t directly apologise because it was a “mistake”. Speaking to BBC Newsnight he said the post was an “inadvertent mistake”, that he wasn’t aware of the phrase, referencing a song by the band XTC, and Reform UK reporting him to the police and saying the post was incitement to murder party leader Nigel Farage was “hyperbole”. He said if he’d “done it deliberately I’d be apologising” and it was “important to point out it’s a mistake”. He said it was “totally unacceptable for Nigel Farage to receive a single death threat” but accused the Reform UK leader of misrepresenting the nature of the post and, by posting about it himself, ensuring it had been “seen more” than it would otherwise have been. A senior Reform Source said: “It’s truly astonishing and quite frankly sickening that Zack Polanski won’t apologise for inciting murder. He admits it’s was wrong, he admits it’s dangerous but he still refuses to apologise. Mr Polanski is not fit to lead a national political party.” Interview by Victoria Derbyshire. #zackpolanski #nigelfarage #reformuk #greenparty #politics #ukpolitics #politicalnews #bbc #bbcnews #bbcnewsnight #newsnight #victoriaderbyshire Newsnight is the BBC's flagship news and current affairs TV programme - with analysis, debate, exclusives, and robust interviews.