Zack Polanski, leader of the Green party in England and Wales, is facing internal debate after sharing an Instagram post that included someone wearing a T-shirt intimating they would welcome Nigel Farage's death. The post, a collection of about 20 photos from an event, included a picture of a man wearing a T-shirt showing a guillotine and words from the XTC song 'We're Only Making Plans for Nigel.' The collection was swiftly removed from Polanski's feed, with the party saying the T-shirt was 'clearly in poor taste.' Reform UK has asked the police to investigate.
Internal disagreement over apology
There was debate within the party over whether it had been right not to apologise to Farage, the Guardian understands. That decision drew scrutiny after Polanski's appearance on the BBC's Newsnight on Tuesday, in which he condemned political violence but refused to say he was sorry three times, insisting he would not apologise for an 'inadvertent mistake.'
Questioning social media strategy
The incident has left the Greens wondering whether the sort of carpet-bombing approach to social media that helped Polanski build his profile needs to change, and particularly whether he needs help. 'There are discussions at all levels about how to avoid this sort of thing happening in the future,' a senior party figure said. 'There does seem to be a keenness from people around Zack for him to hand over the keys to his social media accounts.' Another party source said Polanski had to be rescued from himself when it came to social media: 'There is a problem among some people of being terminally online, and Zack is terminally online.'
Polls show Greens steady
The controversy comes as new polls show Labour in the lead. One of two national polls this week showing Labour overtaking Reform for the first time in more than a year also showed the Greens' score falling by three percentage points. But the second showed them constant at a healthy 13%, well above pre-Polanski levels. Publicly and privately, people in the party say they see no sign of Andy Burnham being notably bolder on policy in ways that will tempt Green supporters to look at Labour. 'It's still very early days, and we don't know what will happen with Burnham,' one senior party figure said. 'But on areas like the cost of living and drilling in the North Sea, it doesn't feel like much will change.'
Call for evolution beyond campaigning
As Polanski approaches a year in the job, some in the party argue he needs to find a way to move beyond campaigning mode and begin to look more like someone who could play a part in government. 'They introduced him very cleverly as this friendly guy in a T-shirt, but it evolved, and now he's a serious man in a suit meeting world leaders,' one Green source said, referring to Burnham. 'Our videos to introduce Zack were great, but something seems to have gone missing since then. The risk is that Burnham ends up looking like a safe pair of hands. If he manages to seem totally sensible, and we seem unsensible, that's when people might move to Labour.'
