Zack Polanski and the crankish turn of the Greens

Much recent political commentary has focussed on the Tories’ travails and the rise of Reform UK. Nigel Farage’s party has surpassed 30 per cent in the polls, while the Conservatives languish in third – even fourth – place. It is not beyond the wit of man to see a radical realignment on the British right.

Why, then, would anyone be interested in a leadership contest in the Green Party – a party of vegans, vegetarians and sandal-wearers that struggles to poll higher than eight per cent? Because, mirroring the influence of Reform on the British right, there is scope for the Greens to have its own impact on the left.

The fight for the leadership, thrown open after Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer confirmed she would step down as co-leader of the party in May, represents a battle for the soul of the Greens. First, there is the continuity choice, represented by Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns. Both are new MPs, who won their seats from the Tories in last year’s General Election. They represent the Green Party establishment, and have the backing of Green peer Jenny Jones, former leader Caroline Lucas and former MEP Molly Scott Cato. Theirs is a Green Party that can appeal to the ‘centrist dads’ and verdant Liberal Democrats.

Ramsay and Chowns are also more likely to represent Greens who are less keen on the party’s woke turn. Jonathon Porritt, an environmentalist aristocrat who was part of the Balanced Migration Group (promoting strict immigration controls and caps long before they were cool), is one supporter. The Green Women’s Declaration, a gender-critical group in the Green Party, has also endorsed them (Ramsay has accepted the findings of the Cass Review, to the dismay of many activists).

In the opposite corner to Ramsay and Chowns is current deputy leader Zack Polanski, a member of the London Assembly. Previously, Polanski was a Liberal Democrat. He also worked as a Harley Street hypnotherapist who claimed he could increase the size of women’s breasts. Now he’s running to transform the Green Party into a distinctly leftist outfit. Championing ‘eco-populism’, he wants ‘social, racial and economic justice’ to be at the heart of the party’s platform. His is a much angrier, bolder and aggressive Green Party, focussed as much on the ‘global-majority community’ (the new woke jargon for ethnic minority) as on global warming.

Polanski could be backed by a seeming ally, Mothin Ali, who this week announced he is running to be the Greens’ deputy leader. Ali – who, like Polanski, is zealously anti-Israel – marked his election as a councillor in Leeds in May 2024 by shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and dedicating his victory to the people of Gaza.

Polanski has been clear that his Green Party will be much more than an environmentalist party. He says it will seek to be a mass movement that challenges ‘wealth and power’ on behalf of the ‘99 per cent’. Rent controls, social housing and additional wealth taxes on the rich would be at the heart of his offering. His party would also be unapologetic defenders of ‘trans rights’ and immigration. He has heaped praise on former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and said he shares his politics.

So, the battle lines have been drawn. Centrist dads vs Corbynites. Waveney Valley vs Bristol West. On paper, your typical ‘sensible centrist’ would say that the Greens ought to plump for Chowns and Ramsay. Identity politics and Corbynite pseudo-radicalism should be avoided like a plague. You win in the ‘centre ground’, they would say.

But Polanski’s pitch needs to be understood in terms of a wider political context. For months, Corbynistas, disillusioned with Starmer’s Labour, have been busily bigging up Collective, a new ‘progressive’ political movement. Candidates from the Muslim Vote, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Corbynite group The World Transformed are all involved, along with many other left-wing independents. And so of course is Corbyn. Collective’s directors include Karie Murphy, Corbyn’s former de facto chief of staff, and Paula Fitzpatrick, who works for Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project. Corbyn himself has spoken at Collective meetings.

Polanski’s vision is building significant momentum among those associated with and sympathetic to Collective. Owen Jones, who campaigned for the so-called Gaza independents at last year’s General Election, has endorsed Polanski’s bid. Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former spokesperson for Corbyn, has established the left-wing, eco-socialist Greens Organise, with many involved supporting Polanski’s bid. Zarb-Cousin has called for any new Corbynite movement to align with the Greens, or for them to join the Green Party if it is in ‘the right place’ – which presumably means being led by Polanski. Some reports have indicated that as many as 15 Labour MPs would be prepared to defect to the Greens if Polanski became leader.

If Polanski is successful, a new coalition of the Corbynite left and the Green Party is on the cards. It is also likely that, along with sitting MPs, more left-wing Labour voters would be willing to make the switch. After all, Corbyn, while deeply unpopular in most of the country, is still liked by 18 per cent of the electorate – a substantial minority. If these voters coalesce around a new party in alliance with the Greens, this could end up doing some very serious electoral damage to Labour, even if its chances of actually winning a General Election are slim to nil.

Of course, Labour might shift left to counter the threat from any new leftist coalition. It could even end up with Angela Rayner walking into No10 with Ed Miliband residing next door. It could also all come to nothing, of course. But it does seem as the British political left is re-orienting itself around the Greens and away from Starmer’s Labour.

This could represent a significant shift. The Green Party has always been a party of reactionary cranks. But now it’s broadening its appeal to embrace the pseudo-radical cranks of the Corbynite left, too. The Greens are all set to become the party of Greta, Gaza and Jezza.

Obadiah Mbatang is a British writer. Follow him on X: @residentadviser.