Zack Polanski exaggerates a great many things. He said that he could enlarge a woman’s breasts through hypnosis, that he had served as a spokesperson for the British Red Cross, that he had previously worked for the Ministry of Justice. All are falsehoods which make him wholly unsuitable to ever becoming prime minister. Perhaps the most spurious claim of them all, however, is that the Green party is the party that will replace the Labour party.
For more than a year, Polanski has paraded around the UK boasting of how the Greens are the real party of the left in Britain. In his first speech as leader, he proclaimed that the Greens were ‘here to replace’ Labour and, to give him some credit, it looked for a while as though they were going to do just that.
Earlier this year, the party amassed more than 230,000 members, and saw more than 1,300 councillors elected to local government seats. They maintain control of 21 councils across the country, and two directly elected local authority mayors are Green.
Polanski himself experienced a concurrent personal bump, too. For quite some time, he polled as the most popular political leader in Britain, trumping the likes of Badenoch, Davey and Farage. He looked set to be the new face of the British left, gap in his teeth and all.
But, since Starmer waved goodbye to No. 10, the Greens have slipped into what can only be labelled as a bout of political irrelevancy. The only significant press coverage the party has received was when Polanski found himself in hot water over a social media post he shared which depicted a Green party supporter – the neck beard was an instant giveaway – wearing a shirt with a guillotine and the song lyric ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel.’
Aside from that, Polanski and his flock have disappeared from the face of British politics. And this is precisely the problem: Polanski has massively overestimated both the relevance and indeed purpose of the Green party.
No, the Green party does not exist to replace Labour. They exist to act as a check on Labour, to call out the party when they believe it is veering too far into the dreaded political centre. A sort of doorstop, that prevents Labour from swinging too far one way.
And the Greens have achieved such a goal. They proved a constant nuisance to Starmer’s Labour. For months, they relentlessly nibbled away at his left flank, wooing a bunch of disenfranchised young lefties over the political fence, promising them that their local council would be able to put an end to the conflict in Israel. But Burnham’s accession to the top job as a progressive PM means that the Greens now lack direction.
Much like Ukip were to the Tories in the 2010s, Polanski’s Greens are not meant to be in government. Polanski will never find himself sat in a Cobra meeting discussing how best to solve an international crisis. But they haven’t yet recognised this reality. They continue to parrot economically-illiterate guff to the masses, believing that donning a keffiyeh and yelling ‘tax the rich’ will solve Britain’s woes.
Polanski’s decision to stand in Holborn and St Pancras is one of immense hubris
Polanski’s decision to stand in Holborn and St Pancras is thus one of immense hubris. He thinks of himself as the messiah, that he and he alone can save the British left from the chains of neoliberal economics. But the truth is that he has already achieved his goal.
I lived in the constituency for some time. I was there when the local elections were held earlier this year, and let me tell you, there is a great deal of scepticism surrounding the Greens and Polanski. The people of Holborn and St Pancras see him as a charlatan who espouses platitudes whilst lacking any semblance of critical thinking. It’s why Camden council returned a Labour majority in May, and it’s why, one hopes, they will reject him in this forthcoming by-election.
Comments