Zack Polanski, an elected member of the Greater London Authority (the body that scrutinises the Mayor of London), refused three times to apologise to Nigel Farage after re-posting a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt bearing a guillotine image and the slogan "we're only making plans for Nigel" (BBC News).

The controversy has drawn in the Metropolitan Police, the GLA's monitoring officer (the official responsible for upholding members' conduct rules), and senior government figures. Reform UK reported Polanski to the police over the post (The Independent), and Nigel Farage personally made a complaint to officers. The Guardian reported on 27 July 2026 that police are making inquiries after Farage reported the post (The Guardian). The Metropolitan Police said there was no update on the complaint they had received on the Monday about Polanski's re-post (BBC News).

Farage posted a screenshot of Polanski's re-post on X, saying that if he had posted anything as "inciteful" he would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski. Reform UK's home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, said the image showed "a photo of man calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage" and could amount to "incitement to murder" (BBC News).

Giving his account on BBC Newsnight, Polanski described the re-post as an "inadvertent mistake" and said he would have apologised if he had done it deliberately. He explained that the photograph was the fifth image in a series of 20 from a party, posted after he accepted an Instagram collaboration request from a photographer at the event. Polanski said he had not read the slogan on the T-shirt when he accepted the collaboration, noticing only a rainbow hat as he flicked through images of people partying (BBC News).

Polanski said Farage had cropped the image to make it look as though Polanski had posted it himself, which he called "fundamentally dishonest". He also said he received a death threat on the Tuesday following the re-post (BBC News).

Reform UK asked the GLA's monitoring officer to investigate whether Polanski breached the code of conduct. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said there is a "duty on all politicians to be careful about what they post" (BBC News).

The anarchist printer behind the T-shirt has removed the item from sale (The Telegraph).

The case has also drawn international commentary. Reason magazine reported on 28 July 2026 that Farage, who has condemned the British government's habit of using police action in free speech cases, was simultaneously calling for his political opponent to be arrested over an Instagram post (Reason).

The broader context here is the growing tendency at Westminster for political disputes over social media posts to be routed through law enforcement rather than settled through political accountability alone. The Polanski-Farage episode touches on the Online Safety Act's threshold for incitement, the GLA's member code of conduct, and the question of whether a re-posted image in a paid Instagram collaboration carries the same editorial responsibility as an original publication. Think of it like a newspaper reprinting a wire photo without checking the caption: does the person who hits "share" bear the same responsibility as the person who created the image? For lobby watchers, the involvement of a Cabinet minister commenting on a sitting GLA member's social media activity is unusual and signals that No 10 does not want the story framed as a partisan spat between Reform and the Greens alone.

Farage's dual stance, criticising the use of police in free speech matters while himself reporting a post to the police, is a tension that Opposition and government MPs alike will likely probe when the Commons returns. The Metropolitan Police's handling of the complaint will also be scrutinised for consistency with how similar reports involving public figures have been treated under existing incitement provisions.