A leading Green has launched a surprise campaign to oust Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay as party leaders, saying the party needs to be less timid and transform itself into a radical, mass-membership “eco-populism” movement.
Zack Polanski, who has been deputy leader since 2022 and serves as a London assembly member, will challenge Denyer and Ramsay this summer despite them taking the party to its best-ever general election result last year, winning four seats.
Polanski told the Guardian he believed the pair had done a good job, but that the Greens needed to meet the challenge of Reform UK, which has a membership about four times bigger than his party and surged to amass of victories in Thursday’s local elections.
“People are done with the two old parties and we’re in this dangerous moment where Nigel Farage is absolutely ready to fill that vacuum,” Polanski said. “We should never turn into Nigel Farage. But there are things we can learn in terms of being really clear in speaking to people.
“There’s an empty space in politics, where we’re not being as bold as we can be. Being sensible and professional are good qualities. But I don’t think they should be the central qualities.”
The Greens in England and Wales have about 60,000 members, while Reform have more than 220,000, a discrepancy Polanski said indicated the need for a change of direction.
“I don’t believe there are more people in this country who align with the politics of Reform than they do with theGreen party,” he said. “In fact we know that, because when Green party policies are polled, they are frequently the most-liked policies, and we are the most-liked party. So why are people not joining?
“We’re not visible enough. I don’t want to see our membership grow incrementally. I want to see us be a mass movement. There’s something here around eco-populism: still being absolutely based in evidence, science and data – and never losing that – but telling a really powerful story.”
Polanksi, a former Liberal Democrat who only joined the Greens in 2017, is little-known outside the party, but is increasingly used for media duties. A former drama student with a background in community theatre, he often takes a more pugnacious approach than Denyer or Ramsay.
It is nonetheless a risky move to challenge a leadership duo who defied electoral expectations in quadrupling the Greens’ total of parliamentary seats last July, with Denyer and Ramsay winning seats along with Siân Berry, a former co-leader, and Ellie Chowns.
Thursday’s elections resulted in yet more local successes, with a net gain of 41 seats. But at the same time, a projection of how the vote would look if held nationally had the Greens in fifth place on 11%, a solid performance but without obvious signs of a mass breakthrough.
Polanski argues the party needs to take advantage of “massive” disillusionment with the Labour government, something he said was for now mainly helping fuel support for Reform.
“If you were trying to create the circumstances for the far right to rise, you would be doing exactly what Keir Starmer is doing now, which is protecting the wealth and power of the super rich,” he said.
Under party rules, the Greens normally hold leadership elections every two years. Denyer and Ramsay were, however, last elected in 2021, a cycle extended by timetable changes and then a delay for last year’s general election.
Nominations for this year’s election open on 2 June, with voting by party members taking place during August.
With his leadership bid under way, Polanski will face increased scrutiny – including of an early and slightly curious brush with infamy. In 2013, the Sun ran an article which recounted that Polanski, then a hypnotherapist, had promised to use the technique to try to enlarge a female client’s breasts.
Polanski said the idea came from the client – who turned out to be a Sun journalist – and that he did not charge them. He said that rather than literal enlargement, the process was meant to help with bodily self-image.
He nonetheless says he takes full responsibility: “I’m a grown adult, and I have choice about what I do and what I don’t do. I’ve apologised for it and I stick by that apology.”