MP Michał Woś's profile posted an image of Ryszard Terlecki with the caption 'Young. Educated, from big cities. The rejuvenated right of Mateusz Morawiecki' and a clown emoji; Woś later said it was uploaded by an admin and removed after a few tens of minutes on 25 July 2026.
Paweł Jabłoński, now aligned with Morawiecki's breakaway group, shared the screenshot on X and accused Woś of mocking a veteran repressed by the communist regime, using the insult 'gnojek' ('scumbag').
Former PM Mateusz Morawiecki issued a statement on 26 July calling insult and contempt 'the political bottom' and warning that internal wars would cost the right elections.
Rafał Bochenek criticized Jabłoński's aggressive tone, said the matter was already clarified, and blamed him for earlier actions that deepened the party split.
A single social media post and its rapid deletion have exposed the raw nerves inside Poland's largest opposition party, as the split led by former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his "Rozwój Plus" association collides with the remaining PiS leadership.
On 25 July 2026, MP Michał Woś published a Facebook post showing Ryszard Terlecki, the veteran former head of the PiS parliamentary caucus and long-time deputy speaker of the Sejm, with the caption: "Young. Educated, from big cities. The rejuvenated right of Mateusz Morawiecki" accompanied by a clown emoji. The post was deleted after several tens of minutes. Woś later stated that an administrator of his profile had published it and that it was removed on his order. A screenshot, however, circulated widely on the platform X.
“This inelegant post was already deleted yesterday after a few tens of minutes.”
Paweł Jabłoński, a former deputy foreign minister who left PiS alongside Morawiecki, shared a screenshot on X with a long, emotional commentary. He accused Woś of disrespect toward a veteran of the anti-communist opposition and recalled that he had himself defended Woś many times against what he called politically motivated accusations. Of Woś he wrote "gnojek", a coarse Polish insult.
“And the little wretch does it only because his gang from Solidary/Sovereign Poland has now taken over PiS, and Ryszard Terlecki refused to go along with it.”
Mateusz Morawiecki intervened on the same morning, posting a statement that explicitly did not name either protagonist but was widely understood as a rebuke to Woś and a plea to de-escalate. His words framed the internal strife as a direct threat to the right's electoral prospects.
“I appeal for restraint. Insulting people, contempt and disrespect are the political bottom. The right will not win elections through a war in its own ranks. It will win only through credibility, effectiveness and a programme.”
Woś replied directly to Jabłoński, accusing him of using an already deleted post for personal attacks: "You are pulling out a screenshot of a post that was deleted at my instruction yesterday, after a short time, by the admin on Facebook, and which I have already called inelegant on X today."
PiS spokesperson Rafał Bochenek then entered the fray, criticising Jabłoński for his aggressive tone and asserting that the situation had already been explained. He simultaneously accused Jabłoński of actions that had contributed to the party's fracture. The exchange underscored how the post had become a proxy battle for the deeper power struggle following the departure of Morawiecki's faction.
The row broke out days after a split whose axis was the "Rozwój Plus" association led by Morawiecki. The PiS leadership gave its parliamentarians an ultimatum: sign a declaration of non-membership in outside organisations by midnight on Thursday or face expulsion. Terlecki, for nearly two decades one of Jarosław Kaczyński's closest associates, did not sign, was expelled from the party and joined "Rozwój Plus". On Facebook he wrote that Kaczyński "remains the most outstanding politician of the past 35 years" but that "the Maślarze are leading PiS to defeat", using a label attached to the faction around Przemysław Czarnek, Jacek Sasin and Tobiasz Bocheński. Morawiecki's supporters are called "harcerze", the scouts.
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The scale of the departure is disputed. Kaczyński spoke of some thirty-odd MPs giving up membership, while Morawiecki said his camp numbers 40 MPs, one senator and three MEPs. On Sunday Morawiecki returned to the argument on X, writing that "when the arguments run out, the festival of fake news, insinuation and political mud begins".
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A deleted Facebook post mocking veteran Law and Justice (PiS) politician Ryszard Terlecki has triggered a fierce public row within Poland's fractured right, drawing condemnation from former PM Mateusz Morawiecki and dragging in the party's spokesperson.
AI text based on reports by Wprost, Do Rzeczy and wpolityce.pl. Published .