Met Police will NOT take action over photo Zack Polanski shared of T-shirt 'showing Nigel Farage's execution'

Met Police will not take action over the photo Zack Polanski shared of a T-shirt seemingly showing Nigel Farage's execution. The Green Party leader sparked fury on Monday when he shared an image to Instagram featuring a man wearing a black T-shirt with the message, 'We're only making plans for Nigel' and an image of a guillotine.It saw Mr Farage call for his political opponent to be arrested, while Reform's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accused the Green leader of 'inciting murder'. The party confirmed it had reported Mr Polanski to police.At the time, the Met Police said it took 'reports of this nature extremely seriously'. Today, the force announced that it had completed its probe, and said no further action would be taken. Officers found it ‘unlikely’ the sharing of the image would constitute a criminal offence as ‘steps were taken’ to remove the post from Mr Polanski’s account, and around 130 accounts also shared the post.However, the Met considered the wearing of the T-shirt a crime - and referred the crime report to Avon and Somerset police.Yesterday, writing for the Daily Mail, Nigel Farage said he had received 'No apology, no knock on the door', and that there were 'no wider condemnations' to the post shared by Polanski. 'Well, after the recent murder of my dear friend and colleague Ann Widdecombe, that simply isn't good enough,' the Reform Leader said, adding that the post had been reported both to the police and the London Assembly. 'Some cynical commentators have accused us of 'overreacting',' he added, referring to the murder of his party's spokesman for immigration and justice. 'Well, let me remind them of just what happened earlier this month.'In a bid to defend himself, Mr Polanski insisted he has not 'done anything wrong' and made an 'inadvertent mistake'. However, he said he will not apologise for the post, which he shared to his 713,000 followers.Mr Polanski told BBC Newsnight on Tuesday that the police had not been in contact with him, adding he 'didn't pay enough attention to the T-shirt' and was 'horrified' by its 'dangerous message'.The Green Party Leader told the flagship programme: 'This was not my post, it was a collaboration from a photographer. Nigel Farage called for Zack Polanski to be arrested after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt 'planning his decapitation' Zack Polanski insisted he has not 'done anything wrong' after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt allegedly 'inciting murder''It had 20 images and I just didn't look carefully enough and I accepted it. 'As soon as I was aware of what happened, I unaccepted it and took it down.'I think it would be odd for the police to speak to me about that because I think it's quite obvious that I've not done anything wrong other than making an inadvertent mistake.'That being said, if the police do want to talk to me, of course I'm very happy to co-operate.' Mr Polanski insisted he would not be apologising to Mr Farage, adding: 'If I'd done it deliberately, I'd be apologising. 'But because this was a mistake, I think the important thing is that I point out it's a mistake, that I also make sure that I condemn political violence, and also crucially, I make a commitment to be better on my social media.'And the Green leader even suggested that Reform politicians were to blame for amplifying his own error.He said: ‘When the person posted it, it got less than 1,000 likes. Nigel Farage then took it, cropped it, so it made it look like I posted it. Which I think is fundamentally dishonest.‘It's now had 3.2million views. So actually this has been seen more because Farage, Zia Yusuf and Richard Tice posted it.’He added: 'I believe in authenticity, and I don't think I've done anything wrong here. I've made a mistake, but it wasn't a purposeful mistake.'It'd be very easy to apologise, but actually I think it would be false. And if nothing else, I'm always going to stand by my convictions.He continued:'If Nigel Farage wants to apologise for all the times that he's put other people in danger, then I'll be happy to make an apology.'The Green Party leader refused seven times when asked by presenter Victoria Derbyshire if he would say sorry to the former Clacton MP. But in a clip online, Mr Farage said Mr Polanski's actions were 'nothing less than incitement'.And a Reform spokesperson said it is 'clear this is a man with no principles', adding: 'He is not fit to lead a national political party'.Responding to the clip, shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns said: ‘You still apologise when you make mistakes. What a bizarre argument that only a few tens of thousands saw it. Vile.’Rosie Duffield, who resigned the Labour whip in 2024, told the Daily Mail that Mr Polanski is ‘stuck in the student politics of yesteryear’.She said: ‘His performative and ultimately empty social media pronouncements are not meant to be a replacement for the details and hard work of politics – merely complimentary.‘The sharing of that sinister t-shirt slogan may have been meant as yet another throw away sentiment, but we know these things potentially have extremely serious consequences. He needs to learn to show real leadership instead of just performing it on stage.’A Met Police spokesperson said no further action would be taken after 'reviewing a number of conclusions'. The force said: 'It is unlikely that the sharing of the image online would constitute a criminal offence. Officers have considered telecommunications, public order and other offences, including incitement, in reaching this conclusion.'The image in question was the 18th in a post containing 20 images. The person named on the reports received has stated publicly, either directly or in statements issued on his behalf, that he had not seen the specific image in question when he accepted the invitation to collaborate. Steps were taken to remove the post from his account when the issue was raised. 'The post has since been shared (whether by collaboration, reposting or sharing) by around 130 accounts. The image has additionally been shared on many more occasions on other social media platforms. We must not treat individuals differently solely because of their public profile, and therefore any investigation would need to have considered not just the actions of the individual named in the reports, but of all 130+ people and organisations. Given it is unlikely their actions would have ultimately constituted an offence, such an extensive investigation was deemed to do be disproportionate and not a reasonable use of police resources.' The Met said it had determined 'that a crime should be recorded in relation to the wearing of the t-shirt'.It said that as the event where the shirt was taken took p[lace in Bristol, the case had been transferred to the Avon and Somerset Police.The force added: 'We absolutely understand the reaction to this image being shared online, particularly in the context of increasing threats towards politicians.'We take the safety and security of those in public life, including politicians, very seriously. Where we identify threats we take appropriate action and where there is evidence of offences we will investigate.'While there will be people who will argue that those who shared the image in this Instagram post should be subject to criminal action, our review has concluded that on this occasion, the threshold is not met. We have spoken with those impacted to explain that decision making and to provide reassurance around our ongoing commitment to their security and the additional support available.'This comes as the Green Party suffered its lowest share of the vote since October last year when Mr Polanski became leader, according to the results of a poll this week.And former deputy leader of the Greens Shahrar Ali yesterday said Mr Polanski was now in ‘car crash, political career-ending territory’.A Green Party spokesperson said: ‘Zack condemns the image on the T-shirt. He was tagged in a post with 20 images and clicked accept without realising there was more to it than he had seen.‘The T-shirt is clearly in poor taste, especially at a time of heightened fears for the security of public figures having experienced multiple threats himself.‘He and the Green Party call on everyone involved in public discourse to show kindness and not encourage more division.’This is a breaking news story, more to come.