Reform UK reporting Green leader Zack Polanski to police over Instagram post

Reform UK have reported Green Party leader Zack Polanski to the police, after he shared an Instagram post including a photo of a man wearing a top featuring the name “Nigel” alongside an image of a guillotine.

Polanski accepted a request to collaborate with another account and shared a series of pictures of a Green Party event on Sunday with his 713,000 followers.

One of the images showed a man in a black t-shirt with a large guillotine image and the words “We’re only making plans for Nigel”.

A Green Party spokesperson said: “Once this image was brought to [Zack’s] attention he immediately unshared the post. He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticised Polanski on X.

Sharing a screenshot of what Polanski had reposted, he said: “If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.”

The words “we’re only making plans for Nigel” are the same as a lyric in a 1979 song by band XTC.

The party’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said “this is incitement to murder”.

Yusuf claimed the image showed “a photo of man calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage”, which he claimed could be an incitement to murder.

Yusuf confirmed Reform UK had reported the post to police and will also report Polanski to to the monitoring officer at the Greater London Assembly, where the Green leader is an elected member.

“To do this just two weeks after our friend Ann was murdered is staggering,” Yusuf said.

“This is incitement to murder. It should be treated as such by the police.”

Prominent Reform member Widdecombe, 78, was found dead in her home in Haytor, Devon, on 9 July. A man, 28, has been charged with her murder.

Her death reignited a row about the security of political figures in public life, with this year marking the 10th anniversary of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox and the fifth anniversary of the murder of Conservative MP David Amess.

Following Widdecombe’s death, Polanski called for all party leaders to get extra security.

Asked about Widdecombe’s death at the time, he told BBC Breakfast: “I am worried and I have been worried for a long time.

“I would encourage the government to provide me with extra security, but that is a choice for them.”

Andy Burnham also backed a serious review of MPs’ security earlier this month.

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick had accused the government of a “dereliction of duty” over Farage’s security, after it emerged the party turned down a government-funded security offer last year.

The Home Office said Jenrick’s comments were “categorically untrue”, and that independent security experts, not ministers, held responsibility for deciding MPs’ security.