When Ignorance Masquerades as Leadership: A Response to Zack Polanski’s Dehumanising Remarks About Care Workers by Shrien Dewani

By: Shrien Dewani 

There are moments in public life when words reveal far more than the speaker intended. Zack Polanski’s recent comments, reducing the work of care professionals to the crude phrase “wiping someone’s bum” and framing foreign nationals as the people who should do it, is one of those moments. It exposes not just a lack of understanding, but a breathtaking absence of humanity, dignity, and leadership. 

As someone who has spent my life working in, learning from, and being humbled by the social care sector, I felt disgusted, appalled, and genuinely horrified that a political party leader in modern Britain could speak with such disdain for the very people who hold this country together. 

Because let us be clear: 

If you cannot show respect for care workers, you are not fit to lead. 

And if this is the voice of the Green Party’s leadership, then the party itself must seriously question whether it is fit to play any meaningful role in our politics. 

The Devaluation of Care Is a Moral Failure 

The idea that care work is nothing more than “wiping bums” is not just factually wrong; it is morally corrosive. 

Social care is a complex, skilled profession rooted in compassion, clinical understanding, and deep human connection. It encompasses dementia support, behavioural care, complex needs, end-of-life care, rehabilitation, safeguarding, and emotional companionship. It demands judgement, learning, emotional intelligence, and courage. 

Yet Mr. Polanski compressed all of that, all those skills, all that humanity, all that sacrifice, into a line designed to belittle. 

That is not a slip of the tongue. 

It reflects worldview. 

A worldview that sees care work not as essential, not as skilled, but as something to demean. 

And worse still, a worldview that suggests these “demeaning” tasks are somehow appropriate for foreign nationals, as though their contribution is lesser, their dignity negotiable, and their value conditional. 

This is not leadership. 

This is ignorance dressed up as commentary. 

Britain Runs Because Social Care Exists 

If it were not for the social care sector, millions of people in this country would simply not be able to work, parent, study, or contribute economically. Social care underpins the NHS, the labour market, and the fabric of countless families. 

It is the invisible infrastructure of the nation. 

Teachers teach because care workers care. 

Surgeons operate because care workers care. 

Politicians campaign because care workers care. 

And many of those care workers, proudly, honourably, are foreign nationals who have chosen to build their lives, careers, and futures in this country. They bring extraordinary skill, deep compassion, resilience, and cultural richness to our services. They are the backbone of provision across Britain. 

To reduce their work to “wiping bums” is not only insulting; it is xenophobic in tone and discriminatory in implication. 

Leadership Requires Humanity, and This Lacked It Entirely 

A political leader should strive to elevate public understanding, deepen empathy, and strengthen the moral centre of our national debate. 

Instead, Mr Polanski’s remarks diminish, distort, and degrade. 

He failed the standard of humanity. 

He failed the standard of integrity. 

He failed the standard of leadership. 

If this is the quality of discourse offered by the leader of the Green Party, then we must question the values that underpin the party’s approach to social policy, migration, and public service. 

A country that cannot respect its carers cannot call itself compassionate. 

A party whose leader speaks this way cannot claim moral authority. 

A Call to the Social Care Community 

Our sector is often spoken about, rarely spoken with, and too frequently dismissed by those who have never set foot on a dementia household, on a complex behavioural unit, or at a bedside at 3 a.m. when someone is frightened, in pain, or facing the final moments of their life. 

Care workers are extraordinary. 

They deserve admiration, gratitude, and respect, not ridicule. 

So, I am asking everyone who works in social care, nurses, carers, activity staff, managers, domestics, cooks, maintenance teams, and every professional who contributes to the life of a care community: 

Please comment below. 

Tell me: 

• Do you believe it is acceptable for a political leader to speak about our sector in this way? 

• Do you believe it is acceptable to frame foreign nationals as “the people who wipe bums”? 

• Do you feel represented by this type of rhetoric? 

• And most importantly, do you believe we should allow comments like this to pass unchallenged? 

Our silence has allowed too many misconceptions to take root. This time, we speak. 

Because social care deserves to be seen. 

It deserves to be heard. 

And it deserves to be valued. 

I stand with every single person in this sector, with admiration, gratitude, and pride.  Let’s make sure the country hears our voice today. 

Please add your thoughts below.