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:

It’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.

Trevor Phillips has asked Green party leader Zack Polanski “what on earth was going through your head” when sharing a social media post condemning the actions of police officers who arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack.

Polanski, recognising the “bravery” of police officers who run towards dangerous incidents, said he apologised for his retweet because X was not an “appropriate forum” to make those comments (see post at 09.27 for more details). He told Sky News:

The first thing I did was recognise that this was a horrific crime and I showed solidarity to the victims and their families.

I then thanked the emergency responders for the brave work they did. I found it all very traumatic, especially as a Jewish person.

And I also found the video that was circulating online traumatic too. I accept though that conversation about that video needs to be had with the commissioner rather than on X.

In an unusually public intervention, the Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, shared a letter to Polanski on X last Thursday, criticising the post the Green party leader retweeted as “inaccurate and misinformed commentary”. He said the responding police officers were “nothing short of extraordinary” and that “without their efforts to stop him (the suspect) I dread to think what the outcome could have been.”

Rowley’s impartiality has been called into question after being accused of wading into the political arena at a particularly sensitive time ahead of elections next week, including for councils in London.

Amid growing speculation about potential Labour leadership challenges being triggered by the expected disastrous local election results, the transport secretary insisted that “the best person to lead our country” was Keir Starmer.

Those demanding a leadership battle should “give their head a gentle wobble”, Heidi Alexander told Sky News. She explained:

So I think here is the best person to lead our country through the period of extreme international volatility that we are experiencing at the moment.

I don’t think the public would thank us if the Labour Party turned into some sort of self indulgent debating society when there are pockets of the world that feel like they are going to hell in a handcart at the moment.

I think asking the prime minister to somehow reapply for his job when all of that is going on and he is entirely focused on the concerns of the British people would be the wrong thing to do…

I think those people who think that we should have a leadership election now and repeat the mistakes that the Conservative government made in churning through prime ministers probably do need to give their head a gentle wobble.

MPs have shifted discussions from speculating about whether the prime minister could be removed to how – including timelines, potential triggers and the mechanics of forcing a leadership contest, my colleagues report here.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has said Zack Polanski’s retweeting of a post suggesting the police used excessive force when they arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack last week was “disgusting” and “absolutely abhorrent” as she claimed he was not “fit to lead a political party”.

Polanski retweeted, without comment, a post on X alleging that officers were “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated by a stun gun.

The Green party leader has since apologised after being publicly criticised by the head of the Metropolitan Police, who said his actions undermined the confidence of officers to deal with dangerous people.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Alexander said:

I thought it was disgusting what he did and absolutely abhorrent. Those police officers ran towards danger, they were armed only with a Taser that they had already discharged. The guy still had a knife in his hand. They were armed with their courage and their training.

And I think for the leader of a political party to jump onto Twitter, start retweeting content criticising those policemen who responded with incredible bravery in what was a very difficult situation. I think it demonstrates that the man is not fit to lead a political party.

Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with attempted murder after two Jewish men were stabbed on Wednesday in Golders Green, north London. He is also charged with attempted murder over an earlier attack that day on a man during a personal dispute in south London. On Thursday, the UK’s terror threat level was raised to severe.

Following the attack, the government announced it was making more money available for protecting Jewish communities and promised to increase powers to target antisemitic preachers but the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has been accused of not doing enough following a string of antisemitic attacks.