Polanski ‘not fit to lead a party’ after Golders Green tweet, says minister – UK politics live

Speaking to the BBC, Zack Polanski discouraged people from using the phrase “globalise the intifada” (see this earlier post for its meaning) but added he is “not interested” in policing language.

The Green Party leader told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg:

double quotation markIt’s not a phrase I would use personally and that’s because I think if there’s other phrases you can use or other ways to do things then why not just do them.

I want people to be more effective so I wouldn’t encourage people to use it because actually I think you can make your point a lot more effectively and not get into this conversation about language.

Words matter, but the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered, the people in Lebanon who have been killed, these people matter too, and I think if people want to protest, that it’s important we defend their right to protest.

Yes I do discourage, to give you a more direct answer, the use of the phrase but I’m not interested in trying to police people’s language.

The Met police commissioner Mark Rowley told BBC Breakfast earlier in the week that people using “globalise the intifada” are “likely to be arrested”. “We said that before Christmas and we’ve already got people arrested and charged and in court for such behaviour,” Rowley said.