UK
Zack Polanski elected Green Party leader in landslide victory
Left Foot Forward
The Green Party has a new leader
Zack Polanski has been elected as the new leader of the Green Party in a landslide victory.
Polanski – a member of the London Assembly and, until today, the party’s deputy leader won a staggering 84% of the vote.
He defeated the job-share ticket of two Green MPs, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns. Ramsay was previously co-leader of the party alongside Carla Denyer.
In advance of the results being announced, the party’s chief executive Harriet Lamb thanked the candidates for the leadership and the other positions within the party elected at the same time, and said that the Green Party is the ‘antidote to Reform’. She also confirmed that the Greens had now reached their highest ever membership numbers, at 68,500.
Following his victory, Polanski said that he would “work every single day to deliver environmental, social, racial and economic justice.”
He added “This is the Green Party’s time”, and said of the Labour government “We’re not here to be disappointed by you. We’re not here to be concerned by you. We’re here to replace you.”
Following the results, Chowns and Ramsay said: “We’d like to congratulate Zack Polanski on his election as Leader of the Green Party, and for running such a strong and passionate campaign.”
Turnout in the leadership election was 38%.
Among those other positions elected was the party’s deputy leadership. As a single leader was elected, the party elected two deputy leaders.
Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward were elected as the party’s new deputy leaders.
More to follow…
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Labour slams newly elected Green Party leader for claiming women could increase bra sizes with minds
The Labour Party has criticised newly elected Green Party leader Zack Polanski, over comments he previously made claiming that women could increase their bra sizes with their minds.
Polanski won the ballot of party members after seeing off a joint leadership bid from Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns.
Mr Polanski secured victory with 20,411 votes, while Ms Chowns and Mr Ramsay received 3,705.
Polanski used to work as a hypnotherapist in Harley Street and in 2013 attempted to help a reporter from the Sun newspaper increase the size of her breasts using her mind.
In the article, The Sun reported: “HAS the time come when we can burn all those uncomfortable push-up bras?
“Hypnotherapist Zack Polanksi reckons so. He says he can boost your cup size using the mind alone. “This is an extremely new approach, but I can see it becoming popular very quickly, because it’s so safe and a lot cheaper than a boob job,” says Zack.”
The Labour Party’s Press Office account on X shared a screenshot of the above report, with the words: “Meet Zack Polanski.
“This is the person who the Greens just elected as their new leader”, with Labour MP Uma Kumaran describing it as ‘grim’.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
‘In electing Polanski, the Green Party has chosen protest over credibility’
Zack Polanski has cruised into the Green Party leadership. The writing was on the wall ever since the “Greens Organise” faction, made up mainly of ex-Labour figures, was set up in anticipation of the leadership contest last year. Labour’s response to this new leadership will shape the local elections next year, in which all of London’s councils go to the polls.
In many ways, the previous leadership represented the two wings of the Green Party voter base. Adrian Ramsay, the male, more conservative rural MP and Carla Denyer, darling of the middle classes of Bristol and Hackney. Polanski himself falls into this second category. His early political journey mirrors a sizable segment of the Green’s voter base – middle class former Lib Dems who began the slow movement towards the Greens around 2010, fervently pro-EU and unimpressed by Corbyn’s Labour and its Brexit-era civil war. Those voters were generally put off by populism, both on the left and right during the last ten years. So, it is interesting to see Polanski reinvent himself as the man to lead the left populist charge against the Labour government, committed to protest despite its tendency to divide.
‘Vibes without the need to substantiate values with credible policy’
It is in his past that we find one of Polanksi’s weaknesses. Zack is a man who has previously advertised his services as someone who could enlarge breasts via hypnotherapy. He may claim to have matured, but first impressions stick. In his current incarnation, he still looks a lot like a man who is more interested in telling people what he thinks they want to hear than any hard truths. Happy to sell false hope.
The challenge for Labour is that Zack Polanski is very good at “vibes”, projecting radical values without feeling the need to substantiate them with credible policy that addresses reality. It is very easy to rage against the government and to declare any compromise a weakness. But, as the Green Party have found in my own city of Bristol, the challenge of governing is a lot harder. Here, the Greens are committed to selling the council houses they promised to protect, with no plan for their replacement. Those houses are not the only public assets they have tried to sell off. They made national news with their plan to make bin collections monthly before being forced to backtrack. Governing is hard and doing it for the many only more so.
CONFERENCE: Join LabourList and Hold Fast Labour for our panel on Turning the rising Green tide – more details here
‘We must stick to our values and highlight where they differ from Polanski’
It remains to be seen how Polanski’s declared intention to return the Green Party to campaigning for the UK’s withdrawal from NATO will play amongst those whose support he seeks. While the European members of NATO have acted to ensure the alliance continues to support Ukraine, Polanski argues “the era of NATO is over.” He has not felt a need to state how he thinks a long-term peace in Ukraine, a peace that respects Ukrainian sovereignty, might be achieved without the alliance.
Labour have made missteps in government which the Greens have pounced on. No matter that Labour is already tackling much of what they rail against. However, in Polanski’s eyes, perfect is the enemy of good. His aim is not agreement, but to stoke disappointment into anger. Beyond that his plan is not well defined.
Tempting as it may seem to simply argue Labour should adopt large chunks of the Green Party manifesto, we must stick to our values, and highlight where they differ from those of Polanski et al. Where they peddle false hope and pursue division through polarisation, we must continue to deliver on credible policy commitments for everyone, ever conscious of maintaining a broad unity within our party and with the electorate.
‘We should clearly demonstrate that the hope we sell is real’
The Greens may make a virtue out of the fact that they don’t whip their councillors, but this just allows their disunity to derail their governance. It means that, once elected, their councillors lack the discipline to deliver on their promises.
In contrast, we must value the broad swathe of opinion within our ranks while maintaining the discipline that allows us to deliver. Focusing on what we share rather than issues on which we might disagree. Compromising for a good outcome, instead of never delivering a perfect one.
We must continue to listen to the electorate and prioritise their needs over our ideological goals, trusting in our shared values to achieve them. This does not preclude bold action. Where we see broad support for it, the pursuit of radical policy will appeal to some of those attracted to the smaller parties by a desire for rapid change. Our strength is that we can maintain the unity required to actually do it. We should clearly communicate and demonstrate that the hope we sell is real.
No comments:
Post a Comment