Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described Green Party leader Zack Polanski as “disgraceful” and “not fit to lead any political party” after Polanski shared a social media post critical of police conduct during the arrest of a suspect in the Golders Green stabbings.
Footage of the arrest, which followed an attack on two Jewish people in north-west London, shows officers appearing to kick the suspect on or near his head. Polanski retweeted a post alleging that police were “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” while he was incapacitated by a stun gun.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Starmer defended the officers, suggesting they may have feared the suspect carried an explosive device in his rucksack. “You have to make a decision in that split moment according to the situation as you understand it to be,” he said, adding that politicians should not “wade in” as Polanski did.
Polanski later apologised, saying he shared the post “in haste” and acknowledged that social media was not the appropriate forum for discussing police responses. He invited Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley to meet with him.
Rowley had written to Polanski, describing the criticism as “inaccurate and misinformed commentary” and praising the officers’ actions as “nothing short of extraordinary”. He told the BBC he was defending his officers to maintain their confidence in protecting Londoners.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also criticised Polanski, asking if he would be “worried about how the police were disarming that person” if someone he loved had been stabbed. The row comes as the Director of Public Prosecutions warned of a “deeply troubling rise in antisemitic incidents” and pledged to tackle hate crimes robustly.
