A Polish deputy foreign minister has called on the British weekly The New European to urgently change an article published on its website on Saturday which defames Law and Justice (PiS), Poland’s outgoing ruling party.

In an article about the British mainstream media narrative about Europe moving rightwards, Denis MacShane, Britain’s former labour minister for Europe, wrote: “Fortunately, this narrative was interrupted last month by the defeat of the anti-EU, anti-women, homophobic Law and Justice party in the Polish elections, although Donald Tusk’s return as prime minister is being held up by President Andrzej Duda.”

On Saturday afternoon, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a Polish deputy foreign minister, reacted to the publication on social media.

“It is extremely worrying how a former UK Labour Minister of State for Europe @DenisMacShane can defame Law and Justice and Poland in this way and that a media source can allow these defamatory statements to be published. Law and Justice refutes these claims in the strongest possible terms,” he wrote on the X platform.

“I call upon @TheNewEuropean to change this text as soon as possible. Statements like this must not be left unchallenged,” Mularczyk added.