PiS silences Jacek Kurski with indefinite media ban after his attack on Mateusz Morawiecki

The TV clash

On Sunday evening Jacek Kurski, a former head of Telewizja Polska and now a PiS MP, used a live appearance on TV Republika to launch a personal assault on Mateusz Morawiecki. He claimed the former prime minister was "a pathetic cog" in a German plan to subjugate Europe and had stayed silent while, in the aftermath of the 2010 Smolensk air disaster, women were burned with cigarettes at the presidential cross. Kurski accused Morawiecki of being "always a man of the establishment" who only joined PiS when it was ready-made and was now trying to destroy the party "on Tusk's orders" because he faces legal problems.

Morawiecki is a pathetic cog here to do it. He has always been a man of the establishment, always from the other side. Today Morawiecki has legal troubles and charges, and that is why, on Tusk's orders, he is trying to break up Law and Justice.

The remarks provoked an immediate retort from MP Robert Gontarz, who belongs to Morawiecki's "Rozwój Plus" association. Gontarz called the language "boorish and disgusting" and reminded Kurski that he himself once mocked the "Smolensk sect" after the crash.

Party reaction

By Tuesday evening the party leadership had acted. After a session of the Political Committee, PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek announced on X that the case of Jacek Kurski "has been referred to the party Ethics Committee" and that Kurski "has received a ban on media appearances." One committee member told the Polish Press Agency that the ban is indefinite and that every future statement by Kurski would be taken into account when assessing the gravity of his misconduct.

The matter of Mr Jacek Kurski connected with his television appearance has been referred to the party Ethics Committee; Mr Jacek Kurski has received a ban on media appearances.

Vice-president Mariusz Błaszczak had already signalled the ban earlier on Tuesday, confirming that the party leadership was acting decisively.

Morawiecki counters

Asked about the row in Polsat News, Morawiecki dismissed the attack with a shrug. "We can say it again: we will certainly not lose any more of Mr Kurski," he said, suggesting voters do not reward such rhetoric. Morawiecki added that he was "absolutely very grateful that Mr Jacek Kurski has become the face of PiS, because I see the reactions on the internet and I understand that every party, in order to lose, must have its own Jacek. Civic Platform had Jacek Murański. If PiS is now raising such a Jacek on its banners, then you can only applaud."

He also noted that during the United Right government he had repeatedly signalled his displeasure with the propaganda pumped out by TVP under Kurski's presidency.

A wider discipline push

The same committee session tackled a broader internal dispute. Bochenek confirmed that 44 party members had either failed to submit or had submitted on the wrong forms the required declarations that they do not belong to any political associations. The list is now with the party disciplinary spokesman, a step aimed mainly at the circle gathered around Morawiecki's "Rozwój Plus." The twin decisions show the leadership moving to suppress public feuding before it damages the party's image.