The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it won’t be taking any further action against Zack Polanski over the controversial image he briefly shared on Instagram.
In a statement, the force said it doesn’t believe sharing the photo, showing a man wearing a T-shirt with a guillotine and the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel,” amounted to a criminal offence. It has, however, decided that wearing the T-shirt itself should be recorded as a crime, and has referred that report to Avon and Somerset Police, who cover Bristol, where the photo was actually taken.
What the police actually concluded
The Met’s review looked at whether sharing the image constituted an offence under telecommunications, public order, or incitement law, and concluded it was unlikely to meet the threshold for any of them. Two things mattered here specifically. First, the image was the 18th of 20 photos in the original post, and Polanski has said publicly, and had said on his own behalf, that he hadn’t actually seen that specific image when he accepted the collaboration request, with the post taken down from his account once it was raised with him.
Second, and arguably more significant for how this played out: the post had, by the time of the review, been shared, whether through collaboration, reposting or straightforward sharing, by around 130 different accounts, on top of further sharing across other platforms entirely. The Met was blunt about what that meant for any investigation: “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 be disproportionate and not a reasonable use of police resources.”
So no further action on the sharing itself. The wearing of the T-shirt is a separate matter, now with Avon and Somerset Police, who’ll decide what, if anything, follows from here.
What the Met actually said
A spokesperson acknowledged the strength of feeling around the story while defending the decision: “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.”
Where this leaves the row with Farage
On Tuesday night, before this outcome was confirmed, Polanski had already accepted he’d made a mistake in accepting the collaboration request in the first place. Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on Newsnight, he condemned political violence directly, but stopped well short of apologising to Farage personally, accusing the Reform leader of “ramping up” the whole thing “in a fundamentally dishonest way.”
His reasoning was that an apology now would simply hand Farage a win. “The moment I do that, Nigel Farage would run all over social media saying he was correct about incitement to murder, and this would all ramp up again,” he said. “I think it’s important that I draw a line and don’t play his game. It is important that he’s kept safe, it is important we condemn political violence, but I also recognise this as the political attack that it is.”
He also made clear the offer wasn’t a flat no. “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.”
What this Met decision actually settles, and what it doesn’t
This closes the specific criminal question around Polanski himself, the sharing of the image won’t be treated as an offence, full stop. It doesn’t resolve the underlying political argument at all. Farage and Zia Yusuf had described the post as incitement to murder, a characterisation the Met’s own review doesn’t support.
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