On Wednesday 29 April, Nigel Farage spoke to the BBC. During the course of this interview, the interviewer asked Farage why he wasn’t talking to Green Party leader Zack Polanski. The Reform leader responded in predictably evasive fashion, prompting the following from Polanski:

Nigel Farage asked on BBC news this morning if he’d debate with me.

Says he’s too busy with the local elections & it will just be a “big row.”

I’ve been asking him for months. Someone’s running scared?

Vote Green.

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 29, 2026

Zack Polanski — ‘someone running scared’

As Zack Polanski said, Farage has been ducking Polanski for some time. This is what Rose Cocker reported for the Canary on 4 February:

Reform leader Nigel Farage is running scared of Green leader Zack Polanski. And, in the run-up to the Gorton and Denton by-election, the clash between the two parties could well be a sign of things to come in the British political landscape.

Of course, Farage is refusing a challenge to a face-to-face debate with Polanski. After all, the far-right figurehead is far batter at manufacturing glib soundbites than he is at answering probing questions.

The Gorton & Denton by-election was widely seen as a pivotal moment in the history of British politics. Labour looked set to lose a safeseat that they’d held for decades, with the winner likely to be Reform UK or the Green Party. The winner would no doubt pick up considerable momentum, with the runner-up losing some of their sparkle.

In other words, any serious leader would have bent over backwards to secure a head-to-head debate.

Nigel Farage, meanwhile, responded like this:

WATCH: Nigel Farage rejects Zack Polanski’s request for a one-to-one debate

“I generally find that if you pick a fight with a chimney sweep you get covered in soot, so I might just leave that alone”

“But he’s got a fan club – all the heroin smokers and everything” pic.twitter.com/e5F6H80eV4

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) February 3, 2026

Absolute shitbag behaviour.

His fear of Polanski goes back further too, as we reported in January:

On 9 January, Green Party leader Zack Polanski challenged Reform Nigel Farage to a one-to-one debate. As you’d expect, Farage immediately accepted the offer, as he was keen to defend his well thought-out political ethos to an engaged audience.

Oh wait, that’s wrong isn’t it; we meant to say he completely blanked Polanski and went silent:

Has anyone seen Nigel Farage in the last 20 hours? https://t.co/qpoAFwtNHK

— Harry Eccles (@Heccles94) January 10, 2026

If you’re wondering why Farage is ducking Polanski, it’s because unlike Reform, the Green Party has actually identified who’s at fault for the problems this country faces:

Unlike Labour, we are serious about ending Rip Off Britain. That must mean measures like rent controls.

We aren’t afraid to take on vested interests.

And we won’t hesitate in taking practical action to reduce the cost of living. https://t.co/DXktDWDCil

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) April 29, 2026

Smear and loathing

In other Farage news, Novarareported on 29 April:

Nigel Farage visited a social housing estate in Wales by helicopter, but pretended he had driven.

A Merthyr Tydfil resident told Novara Media that when the Reform leader visited the town as part of his general election campaign, he “landed in the next valley over so that nobody knew he’d come by helicopter”.

“This isn’t what people in Merthyr travel by,” she added.

While I was in Merthyr I had the most extraordinary conversation: while visiting south Wales Farage had allegedly come by helicopter – but then drove from the next valley, where the chopper was – to obscure how he travels.

Reform are welcome to correct! pic.twitter.com/yhckwYeBWO

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) April 29, 2026

Novara’s Bastani also had this to say on the smears being deployed against Polanski and the Green Party:

.@AaronBastani: “It’s a bit like with Zack Polanski isn’t it, all the antisemites are joining the party led by the Jewish guy, can’t you see it? No I can’t actually, you’re crazy” pic.twitter.com/1RDtYoUTlY

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 28, 2026

It’s right to call these smears out — not least because the Green Party does sometimes back down to them.

We saw this in the past with the suspension of would-be candidates; we’ve seen it recently with the suspension of anti-Zionist Jewish activist Tony Greenstein, and with the stitch up around the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion. At the same time, the party is making more of an effort to stand behind candidates smeared by the establishment, and that’s a positive development.

Standing up to Reform, Labour, and the billionaires is good, but you have to stand rigid. The second you show signs of buckling at the knees, the establishment will have you on the ground in an instant.

Polanski has mostly been steadfast on these issues, which is why Farage knows he’s going to struggle against him in a debate.

Featured image via Barold

By Willem Moore

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