Zack Polanski: the 'eco-populist' running for Green Party leader
'Insurgent' party deputy is making a bid to take the Greens further to the left

The Labour Party is "extraordinarily fortunate that the Green Party are shit". That was the "withering" verdict of an anonymous minister after Labour's recent underwhelming local-election performance. Keir Starmer's government may have "imploded" over cuts to support for the elderly and disabled but the Greens have "flatlined" in the polls, leaving Reform UK as the "main receptacle for popular disillusionment", said Owen Jones in The Guardian.
"Could that finally change?" Zack Polanski, the Green Party's deputy leader and a London Assembly member, has launched a bid for leadership, "with a pitch representing a gear shift in strategy" for the party. Once a Liberal Democrat activist, Polanski is "now firmly on the party's left and is offering a clearly defined left-populist message".
'Eco-populism' agenda
Confronting Nigel Farage's "infectious populism" is a driving force behind Polanski's run, said Megan Kenyon in The New Statesman. And climate policy is a key battleground. Farage is using net zero as a "culture war sledgehammer" against the government, and Polanski wants to challenge Labour on this issue, too, but "from the left". "I'm really angry about net zero," he told the magazine. "I'm angry that the government is expecting some of the poorest in this country to step up" and pay for it. While those words sound as if they come straight "out of Farage's own playbook", they reflect Polanski's broader "eco-populism" agenda – including taxing the wealthy and big business to fund the green transition.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Polanski also wants a "bolder" stance on Nato, calling his party's current position "out of date", said Byline Times. "I think the age of Nato is now fully over," he told the paper, citing Donald Trump's aggressive stance towards other Nato members, including his interest in annexing Greenland. But this is a "fringe position" among the British public, more than three-quarters of whom support the UK remaining inside the alliance, according to YouGov polling.
Insurgents vs. professionals
As with the last Green Party leadership race, in 2021, members face a choice between "more sober, election-focused professionals" and "insurgent activists", said Peter Walker in The Guardian. Current co-leader Adrian Ramsay and his fellow MP and new running mate Ellie Chowns can point to general-election and local-election wins. The pair can "thus present themselves" as "exemplars of the party's long-term mission to build up a Westminster presence via local government, with both serving as councillors in the areas they eventually won". Polanski's rebuttal isn't that their approach is "wrong" but that it's too cautious, and Green messaging needs to be transmitted to voters "with more urgency".
But his leadership bid will also invite scrutiny, not least over a bizarre 2013 incident reported by The Sun. Then working as a hypnotherapist, Polanski used the technique to try to enlarge a female client's breasts – an idea he said came from the client, who was actually the journalist from The Sun. He said his goal was to highlight how hypnotherapy could improve body image, and emphasised that no money was exchanged. "I've apologised for it and I stick by that apology," he later said. "I'm a grown adult, and I have choice about what I do and what I don't do."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.
-
5 bunker-busting cartoons about the Israel-Iran war
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on Iran waiting for Pete Hegseth to leak war plans and Donald Trump's wish for a Nobel prize
-
Malaysia's delicious food and glorious beaches
The Week Recommends From 'colourful' George Town to the 'jungled interior' of Langkawi, Malaysia is incredibly diverse
-
Is the US sliding into autocracy?
Talking Point Donald Trump's use of federal troops on home ground, dismissal of dissent and 'braggadocious' military posturing are all symptoms of a shifting political culture
-
Reform UK's councillors are off to a rocky start
In the Spotlight Three weeks after sweeping the local elections, Nigel Farage's insurgent party is beginning to realise how hard the path from rhetoric to reality really is
-
Are we entering the post-Brexit era?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer's 'big bet' with his EU reset deal is that 'nobody really cares' about Brexit any more
-
Can Starmer sell himself as the 'tough on immigration' PM?
Today's Big Question Former human rights lawyer 'now needs to own the change – not just mouth the slogans' to win over a sceptical public
-
Where is the left-wing Reform?
Today's Big Question As the Labour Party leans towards the right, progressive voters have been left with few alternatives
-
Is the UK's two-party system finally over?
Today's Big Question 'Unprecedented fragmentation puts voters on a collision course with the electoral system'
-
Germany's elections: from dull to high drama
The Explainer Surge of far-right AfD threatens to upend mainstream coalition politics
-
How should Westminster handle Elon Musk?
Today's Big Question Musk's about-face on Nigel Farage demonstrates that he is a 'precarious' ally, but his influence on the Trump White House makes fending off his attacks a delicate business
-
Is Elon Musk about to disrupt British politics?
Today's big question Mar-a-Lago talks between billionaire and Nigel Farage prompt calls for change on how political parties are funded