The police just interfered in democracy

We have to take action now

The Commissioner of the scandal-afflicted Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, just interfered in our democracy - and we have to take action.

He wrote a public letter condemning Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, just a week before local elections.

This concerned a retweet by Zack Polanski about the nature of the police arrest of the man charged with the antisemitic attack in Golders Green.

Forget what you think about the retweet. Accepting this sort of police interference in our democracy legitimises a disturbing precedent - and we need to do something about it. Here is the public letter from Mark Rowley.

Metropolitan Police@metpoliceuk

“Apprehending violent and dangerous criminals is a full contact and messy task which may appear shocking to observers with little experience of policing in the real world.” Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley writes to Zack Polanski.

4:35 PM · Apr 30, 2026 · 2.77M Views

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2.64K Reposts · 17.6K Likes

We need to write a complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which you can do here.

I’m including a model letter for you to adapt which has been written by investigative journalist Paul Holden. You can read his own letter here.

The Fraud@StarmertheFraud

Whatever one makes of Zack Polanski's retweet, Sir Mark Rowley's letter to @ZackPolanski is a needless and reckless political intervention during a highly competitive local election period and distraction during a time of considerable agitation, fear and upset. I have submitted

9:57 AM · May 1, 2026 · 1.27K Views

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3 Replies · 35 Reposts · 58 Likes

Here is his model letter:

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I am writing to complain about the letter from Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader. The letter was posted to X at 5:35PM on the 30th of April 2026.

I would like the IOPC to investigate whether Sir Mark Rowley’s letter to Mr. Polanski violated his duty to act in an impartial political manner.

In investigating this matter, the IOPC should consider:

1.⁠ ⁠The tone of Sir Mark Rowley’s letter, which was condescending, ‘snarky’ and sarcastic;

2.⁠ ⁠Sir Mark Rowley’s decision to publish the letter widely without first raising his concerns privately with Mr. Polanski or the Green Party;

3.⁠ ⁠The timing of the letter, with specific reference to the upcoming local elections, including across multiple London boroughs;

4.⁠ ⁠The context of the letter, namely, a highly combustible period following a deplorable antisemitic terrorist attack, in which community tensions and emotions are running high;

5.⁠ ⁠Widespread social media and mainstream media comment about the inappropriateness of Sir Mark Rowley’s intervention;

6.⁠ ⁠The way competing political parties and politicians have used the letter to attack Mr. Polanski during a highly competitive election period.

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It’s also worth nothing that Nigel Farage has repeatedly attacked the police’s operational conduct - denouncing what he calls “two-tier policing”. Not a retweet - a constant line of attack. He has never received a public letter from the Commission publicly condemning him, let alone in the run-up to an election.

I also just want to emphasise something which Paul Holden wrote in his letter. The way that Mark Rowley wrote about Zack Polanski erases his Jewish identity, and talks about the Jewish community as though it is not something he is part of.

There is a growing campaign to de facto strip Polanski of his Jewishness, linked to efforts to smear him and the Green Party as a whole with antisemitism. That is deeply sinister and the letter from the Commissioner - whatever his motives - feeds into that.

You can also see the video footage of the arrest here.