Zack Polanski is shaking up the Green Party — and he’s not being quiet about it. The current deputy leader has launched a surprise bid to replace Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, calling for a bolder, louder, and more radical movement rooted in eco-populism.
And yes, he knows they led the Greens to their best general election result ever. But Polanski says now’s the time to go big — or get drowned out by Farage.
🧨 ‘We can’t afford to be timid anymore’
Polanski says the Greens have played it safe for too long. “Being sensible and professional are good qualities,” he told The Guardian. “But I don’t think they should be the central qualities.”
He wants the party to embrace a mass-membership model — one that’s still rooted in science and evidence, but wrapped in a “really powerful story”.
That’s where his eco-populism vision comes in: green, credible, and impossible to ignore.
📊 The numbers don’t lie
Reform UK has over 220,000 members. The Greens? Around 60,000.
Polanski says that doesn’t reflect the public mood. “When Green policies are polled, they’re some of the most liked. So why aren’t people joining?”
His answer: visibility. “We’re not bold enough. I don’t want incremental growth. I want a mass movement.”
🎭 From theatre to politics — and a cheeky past
Polanski’s not your typical party leader. He used to study drama and worked in community theatre. And he’s definitely more fiery in interviews than Denyer or Ramsay.
But not everything in his past has been smooth.
In 2013, The Sun ran a story revealing he’d offered to use hypnotherapy to ahem “enhance” a woman’s breasts. That woman turned out to be a journalist.
Polanski says it was meant to help with body image, not literal size — and he didn’t take any money. “I’ve apologised for it and I stick by that apology,” he said.
🚀 Risky move? Maybe. But he’s going for it.
Challenging Denyer and Ramsay is no small thing. The pair helped the Greens win four seats at the last general election — a record result — and gained 41 more councillors in Thursday’s locals.
But Polanski believes now is the moment. With disillusionment in Labour rising and Reform hoovering up the protest vote, he says the Greens must seize the spotlight before the far right does.
“If you were trying to create the conditions for the far right to rise, you’d do exactly what Keir Starmer is doing now,” he said. “Protecting the wealth and power of the super rich.”
Nominations open on 2 June. Voting runs through August. Get your popcorn.
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