Eco-populist Zack Polanski wins landslide victory with over 80% of votes as Labour fears leftward challenge
A former hypnotist once dubbed ‘the boob whisperer’ has been elected leader of the Green Party in a landslide victory that could heap fresh electoral pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s embattled Labour government.
Zack Polanski, 42, a self-declared “eco-populist” who has touted potential link-ups with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s new party, secured 20,411 votes, crushing rivals Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns who managed just 3,705 between them on a joint ticket.
The London Assembly member, who was arrested during 2019 Extinction Rebellion protests and showed support for the now-banned terrorist group Palestine Action earlier this year, promised to “replace” Labour and capitalise on growing disillusionment with Starmer’s government.
Polanski’s colourful past includes working as a Harley Street hypnotherapist who, in 2013, featured in a Sun newspaper article claiming he could help women increase their breast size through hypnosis. The newspaper reported he told a journalist to “imagine you’re in a movie” and picture herself with bigger breasts as part of a treatment he said could become “popular very quickly, because it’s so safe and a lot cheaper than a boob job.”
The former Liberal Democrat, who changed his name from David Paulden aged 18, was among the first Extinction Rebellion activists arrested for blocking Waterloo Bridge in April 2019. Writing for the Huffington Post, he declared himself “proud to have played my part” in the six-day protest that brought London roads to a halt.
More controversially, Polanski showed support for Palestine Action just days before the group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation. Alongside a picture posted online from Glastonbury, he wrote: “Our government is selling arms being used to commit genocide. Israel kills a child every 45 minutes. We are all Palestine Action.
In his victory speech, Polanski directly challenged the Prime Minister: “In a message to Sir Keir and Labour, the Green Party is going to replace you. This is the Green Party’s time. People in this country are exhausted. They are tired. They are sick of working long hours and never feeling secure.”
He added: “They see water companies pumping sewage into our waters and charging us extra for the privilege, and they see how broken the old two-party system is, and we know this political space has been ripe for charlatans like Nigel Farage and Reform, millionaires who are pretending to serve working-class communities but are actually backed by the same billionaires who are destroying our democracies, our communities and our planet.
Labour Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves responded sharply to Polanski’s election, stating: “We are living through serious times and the public rightly expect responsible and measured responses from all political leaders. Zack Polanski must level with the British people as to whether he stands by his recent failure to support continued NATO membership, and what it means for his Party’s stance on Putin’s appalling illegal war in Ukraine.
She added: “The Labour Government’s commitment to NATO membership is unshakeable and always will be.
Polanski’s insurgent campaign had encouraged people to sign up to the Greens ahead of the vote, leading to accusations of “entryism” from opponents. Green Party membership reportedly surged by at least 8% following his campaign launch in May, with sources suggesting the party now has over 65,000 members.
The new leader announced his candidacy with an interview in May in which he called for the Green Party to drop its support for the UK staying in NATO. He has since been courting disaffected left-wing Labour MPs who find themselves on the fringe under Starmer’s leadership, specifically naming Zarah Sultana, Clive Lewis, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Nadia Whittome as potential defectors.
With Corbyn setting up a new left party alongside former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, Polanski’s victory could create a pincer movement pressuring Starmer from the left as Labour struggles to catch up with Reform in the polls. Labour’s support has already slumped from 34% at the general election to just 22% in recent polling.
Born in 1982 in Salford to a Jewish family, Polanski didn’t join the Greens until his mid-30s, according to his campaign website. He chose the name Zack after a Jewish refugee character in “Goodnight Mr Tom”, whilst Polanski was his grandfather’s original surname before it was changed to evade antisemitism in the UK.
His political journey saw him unsuccessfully stand as a Lib Dem London council candidate in 2015 and 2016 before switching to the Greens. He was elected to the London Assembly in 2021 and served as deputy leader from 2022 until his leadership victory today.
The election result will determine the party’s direction as it seeks to position itself as a serious progressive alternative to Labour. Throughout the fractious campaign, Polanski urged the Greens to be “bold” and pushed an “eco-populist” agenda, while his rivals emphasised appealing to a wider range of voters.
Mr Ramsay and Ms Chowns had accused him of using “polarising” language that only appeals to a “narrow segment” of the electorate. The Guardian reported that senior party figures believed Polanski’s campaign was bringing in an “influx” of new left-leaning members, which one senior figure likened to a “hostile takeover”.
Polanski has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling them “genocide” and addressing pro-Palestinian demonstrations where he claimed the UK government is “not just complicit but active participants. At a National March for Palestine in June, he called for immediate cessation of arms sales to Israel.
Unlike other parties, the Greens hold leadership elections every two years. This year’s contest was delayed from 2024 to avoid clashing with the general election. Ms Denyer, who helped the party win its highest-ever representation of four MPs, decided not to stand for re-election to focus on her parliamentary duties.
Polanski’s platform promises to “take on power and wealth” in the UK, stating: “We listen to the poorest communities, whether the migrant communities, disabled communities, the trans community, working-class communities, whoever needs us to have their back, we will be there.”
The Prime Minister has yet to respond to the Green Party election result, though he recently defended patriotic flag displays after a Labour MP branded St George’s Cross flyers as “extremists” – a controversy that highlighted divisions within Labour’s ranks.
As Polanski takes the helm of the Greens with his promise to make the party “much bigger, much louder, much more effective”, the stage is set for a potential realignment on the British left that could significantly complicate Starmer’s path to re-election in 2029.
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Image Credit:
Zack Polanski, Green Party London Assembly Member — photo by Rob Browne (rights waived), taken on 3 June 2022, sourced from vote.zackpolanski.com. The image is dedicated to the public domain under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0 1.0 Universal) Public Domain Dedication, meaning it can be used freely without attribution
