Reform UK has reported Green Party leader Zack Polanski to the Metropolitan Police over an Instagram post that showed a man wearing a T-shirt appearing to call for the decapitation of Nigel Farage, in a row that has escalated rapidly this afternoon.
The post, shared with Mr Polanski's 713,000 Instagram followers, reportedly featured a photograph of a man in a top bearing the name "Nigel" alongside an image of a guillotine. Mr Polanski, who leads the Green Party of England and Wales, later deleted the post. Reform UK has since confirmed to GB News that it has formally reported the Green leader to the Metropolitan Police, framing the image as an incitement to violence.
The referral is politically charged because it comes roughly two weeks after the murder of Reform UK spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe, whose killing is now being treated by counter-terrorism police as a suspected act of terrorism. Reform figures have directly linked the timing of the post to Ms Widdecombe's death, sharpening a confrontation between two parties that have increasingly positioned themselves as opposites on the British political spectrum.
Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, called for Mr Polanski's arrest in a post on X. "This is what Zack Polanski has just posted on his Instagram," he wrote. "If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski."
A Reform UK figure tied the post explicitly to Ms Widdecombe's killing. "Zack Polanski has posted to his 713k Instagram followers a photo of a man in a T-shirt calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage," the figure said. "To do this just 2 weeks after our friend Ann was murdered is staggering. Polanski is inciting murder. It must be treated as such by the police."
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, echoed the call for police to examine the post. Alex Wilson, the party's leader on the London Assembly, said he would also report Mr Polanski to the Monitoring Officer on the Greater London Authority.
A Green Party spokesman said Mr Polanski had shared the image inadvertently and removed it as soon as he became aware of it. "After attending a public event, Zack accepted a request to collaborate on a post with several images," the spokesman said. "Once this image was brought to his attention he immediately unshared the post. He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message."
The Metropolitan Police had not issued a public statement on the referral at the time of writing, and it remains unclear whether officers will open any investigation. There is recent precedent for caution: police previously declined to take further action over "take the knife" comments by Mr Farage, saying they did not constitute a criminal offence.
Mr Polanski, 42, a London Assembly member and former actor and hypnotherapist, was elected Green Party leader earlier this year, defeating former leader Adrian Ramsay and Green MP Ellie Chowns. He describes his politics as "eco-populism" and has pitched himself as capable of doing for the Greens what Mr Farage has done for Reform. He has been a frequent critic of the Reform leader, repeatedly labelling him a "fascist" and a "grifter". Mr Farage, for his part, has said he is the "most physically and verbally attacked politician of modern times".
The confrontation lands against a backdrop of heightened concern over the safety of politicians. Ms Widdecombe, the 78-year-old former Conservative minister who became Reform UK's immigration and justice spokesperson in 2023, was found dead at her home in Haytor, Devon, last Thursday. Westminster Magistrates' Court was told last week that she sustained 21 blows to the head from a hammer.
On Saturday, police arrested a 28-year-old man, a white British national, in South Yorkshire on suspicion of murder. Counter Terrorism Policing North East later took the lead in the investigation, saying "new information and evidence has come to light during what has been a dynamic and complex investigation". The man in custody was subsequently re-arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed last week that counter-terrorism officers were now leading the inquiry. Police had previously said there was no information to suggest the murder was politically motivated.
Ms Widdecombe's death has revived memories of the murders of MPs Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2021. Brendan Cox, the widower of Jo Cox, said Ms Widdecombe's killing had brought back "all of the pain and emotion" of losing his wife.
It is not the first time Mr Polanski has clashed with the Metropolitan Police. In spring 2026 he was drawn into a dispute over the force's response to a knife attack in the Golders Green area of north London, and later apologised to the Met over a retweet relating to an attack on two Jewish men. Mr Polanski was born David Paulden in 1982 to a Jewish family.
The row also arrives amid a broader national debate over the policing of social media speech. The Home Office recently announced that officers would no longer investigate legal but offensive online posts, scrapping police investigations into so-called non-crime hate incidents following a review by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs' Council. Such incidents are, however, distinct from the alleged incitement offence to which Reform UK is pointing.
Under Mr Polanski's leadership, the Greens have reported significant momentum, winning their first Westminster by-election in Gorton and Denton, where candidate Hannah Spencer secured a majority of more than 4,000 to become the party's fifth MP. The party says its membership has almost tripled, rising from 68,500 to more than 190,000.
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