Karol Nawrocki, the candidate from Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, is currently polling in second place ahead of this year’s election.

The historian and former museum head was recently publicly identified as the author of a book about crime in 1980s Poland, published under the pseudonym Tadeusz Batyr.

Embarrassingly, that has cast new light on a TV interview with Mr “Batyr”, in which the non-existent author praised Mr Nawrocki for having “really inspired me”, the BBC reports.

The TV interview was anonymised, with Mr Nawrocki wearing a hat and having his face blurred.

Mr Nawrocki also wrote social media posts under his real name recommending the book by Mr “Batyr”, claiming to have provided “some guidance” to the author.

He has since denied any wrongdoing, insisting that pseudonyms “are nothing new in Polish academia”.