Polish Prince challenges Farage to duel or debate

A Polish prince has challenged Nigel Farage to a sword fight or failing that, a television debate over discrimination against his countrymen.

In a video posted to YouTube at the weekend, Prince Yanek Zylinski hit out at the Ukip leader over his anti-immigration stance, saying "I've had enough of the discrimination of Polish people in this country."

In the video, he describes the liberation of 6,000 Jews in a cavalry charge led by his father in 1939, then brings out his father's sword and challenges Mr Farage to a duel in Hyde Park.

"Are you up for it Mr Farage?" he asks, before offering an alternative "duel of words" on TV.

Mr Zylinski said his challenge was primarily "symbolic and visual". "There are lots of groups here that represent Poles, but they are not breaking through to the media . . . they need someone to represent them in a way that is heard," he said.

Mr Zylinski is a member of the sprawling community of wealthy Polish aristocrats who have lived abroad since their parents and grandparents fled the Soviet occupation of 1939. A privately-educated history graduate from the London School of Economics, the prince spoke passionately in defence of more recent immigrants suffering at the hands of "a new kind of imperialism".

"It is something I have felt all my life, that if you scratch the surface, there is a feeling that immigrants are second class. It is a hangover of the British empire."

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, Polish nationals were the largest non-British community in the UK in 2013, when there were an estimated 726,000 in the country.

A report published by University College London in 2013 concluded that immigrants made a net contribution to the UK economy of £78bn between 2001 and 2011. It found that migrants from the European Economic Area made net contributions of £2,732 a person a year, compared with net debt from UK nationals of £1,087.

But Mr Zylinski says the debate fuelled by the anti-immigration Ukip means that Poles living in areas with high unemployment "feel threatened and excluded from a country where they live, work and pay tax".

More cynical members of the Polish community have said the video is a public relations stunt by the prince. "He does not really speak for the Polish community, he speaks for himself. I know a lot of other people who have done more for ordinary Poles," said one source.

He questioned the princely status of Mr Zylinski, who he says is one of many aristocrats that have used the opaque history of Poland's monarchy to style themselves as royals.

Many Poles, however, have welcomed the video. Jakub Krupa, who co-ordinates a "Poles in the UK" campaign to inform debates on immigration, said it was an "excellent use of social media by a man of his age".

"We obviously do acknowledge some pressures that have become visible because of the migration, but it is crucial to think of it as a systemic problem, not a migrant problem: public services, including NHS, need reforms to meet the needs of both British and non-British residents . . . it's our shared responsibility to work on creating the best solutions," he said.

Last week the Movement Against Xenophobia launched a £44,000 campaign to "celebrate immigrants" in the run-up to the election by distributing posters "from Dundee to Margate" - the city where Ukip held its spring conference earlier this year.

Ukip did not respond to a request for comment.

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