Just eight months ago the Green Party sent shivers through the Labour Party establishment when it overhauled their 13,413 majority in Gorton and Denton to win a convincing by-election victory with more than 40 per cent of the vote.
Galvanised by the leadership of Zack Polanksi it seemed the Greens were about to emerge as a serious force in UK politics as Labour tumbled in the polls.
Now, after a disastrous conference vote last week, serious questions are being asked about Polanski’s leadership following his failure to make any inroads as a candidate in the key target seat of Holborn and St Pancras.
On its own, a reasonable second place in what is after all a Labour stronghold and Sir Keir Starmer’s vacated seat, would not mortally wound a Green Party leader. But the loss has exposed deep divisions in the party as the old guard of traditional Greens question what they regard as Polanski’s failure to curb the excesses of new left wing members.
‘Toxicity’ around the Green brand
At the core of the dispute is the controversial vote last Sunday at the party’s conference to pass a motion describing “Zionism as racism”. Many argue the motion effectively says Israel does not have a right to exist. It has been roundly condemned from within and outside the Party.
And Polanski is now facing sustained criticism for not only not voting on the motion, but of being “missing in action” in not fighting to impose control on the radical elements of his party.
The Greens have seen a surge in new members since Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party collapsed due to infighting, raising fears that the hard left without a home are joining the party en masse, and altering its culture.
Writing in the New Statesman on Friday former leader Caroline Lucas said the party’s internal structures left it “woefully exposed” to “entryism” – the take over of a party through mass membership.
Deputy Leader Mothin Ali, for example, was a Labour Party member until 2020, leaving after Jeremy Corbyn resigned. He publicly backed the controversial Zionism motion.
A host of Green grandees, including former leaders Lucas and Jonathan Bartley, and peers Jenny Jones and Natalie Bennett, have called on Polanski to now “show leadership” and undo the damage of the motion.
Former leader Caroline Lucas – who holds the accolade of being the party’s very first MP – refused to back Polanski staying in post while insiders told The i Paper there was “growing frustration” over the leader and called on him to “show leadership” and overturn the motion, which has triggered accusations of anti-Semitism.
The chair of the Jewish Greens has gone as far as calling for Polanski’s resignation after he failed to vote on the motion, agreeing it was a “dereliction of duty”.
Former Green leader Jonathan Bartley told PoliticsHome there was now “toxicity” surrounding the party’s brand and that allegations of anti-Semitism were “clearly having an impact” on its support.
Senior figures are largely united in believing Polanski had failed to show leadership by missing the crucial conference vote which endorsed a policy effectively calling for Israel to be abolished and replaced with a single Palestinian state.
Several also told The i Paper Polanski now had to find a way to effectively overturn the motion.
‘Growing frustration with Zack’
Former leader Caroline Lucas said Polanski “should have been there and he should have voted” while ex-co-leader Adrian Ramsay has called for the party to get “back on track” and return to its “core purpose” of championing environmental causes.
A Green Party source told The i Paper there was “growing frustration with Zack having been missing in action for this crucial conference vote and his attempts to sweep the issue under the carpet are not going to work”.
“Most senior Greens recognise the situation is not tenable and the question will be whether Zack engages with this and shows leadership on finding a way forward for the party,” the source said.
“On the Today programme he said that he does not agree with the motion. Question is what is he going to do about it?”
The source added that Polanski was now in danger of having “extremists calling him a Zionist”, which puts him “in danger of losing the confidence of both wings”.
They also questioned his performance in the by-election, saying his vote share was similar to the combined figure for the Greens and a Gaza independent, who later endorsed Polanski in the seat in 2024, when it was held by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Vivien Lichtenstein, chair of the Jewish Greens, said Polanski had not worked with her group before the vote, adding on Times Radio: “I think he should resign.”
Polanski now urged to show leadership
But other senior figures backed him to continue if he can address the controversy surrounding the motion and reform the party.
Ellie Chowns, leader of the Greens in the Commons, told The i Paper: “You win some, you lose some in politics. So this by-election doesn’t have to be the end of Zack’s political career, not at all. There probably aren’t that many MPs who have never lost an election.”
Chowns oppose the Zionism is racism motion and said she “would like to have seen an equally clear position from Zack against that motion”.
“I do think that now we have to recognise that although the party tends to pride itself on its member-led democratic decision-making process, actually having just 0.4 per cent of your members decide on a policy that is in my view contrary to Green values and contrary to the views of the majority of Green members is not a sustainable position to be in.”
“I do want to reverse that particular policy, but it highlights a wider issue.”
Education Secretary Lucy Powell (left) with newly elected MP Sagal Abdi-Wali who won the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire“That leadership is needed in the party and I very much hope Zack shows that leadership.”
Green peer Baroness Jenny Jones told The i Paper the Zionism is racism motion was a “clumsy attempt to do what what various members thought was the right thing”, adding that she “would have voted against it”.
She also said Polanski must now show leadership in handling controversy surrounding the motion, saying: “I think definitely the fact there is some division on how to think about this motion and how to deal with it and what to do with it next, I think it is for him to be involved in in that process.”
Jones added: “He hasn’t lost my confidence. I can’t claim to speak for loads of people, but I think most of us want it sorted, and to see Zack in the hurly burly sorting it is something we want to see.”
Former Green leader Baroness Natalie Bennett said she “absolutely” retained confidence in Polanski, but added that she was “really disappointed” to see Jewish Greens leaving the party after the motion passed.
She urged Polanski to provide “reassurance” to members that there is “no discrimination against anyone in the party, whether they go to a synagogue, belong to a community group, or any other organisation”.
‘Many of us were persuaded not to campaign’
Sian Berry, another Green MP and leading figure, said senior figures had been persuaded not to publicy fight the motion for the sake of the by-election campaign. Writing on Instagram she said: “The clash of conference with an exciting and mobilising by-election campaign meant many of us were persuaded not to campaign publicly for these ends”.
“I want to take my full share of personal responsibility for the result of all this in the votes at conference. I should have worked harder to persuade more of our leading figures to speak up in a unified way.”
Polanski defended his decision to miss the conference vote on the anti-Zionism motion because he was campaigning in the by-election and said “of course I can carry on”.
Asked if he supported the motion, he said: “I would have supported the motion as amended. It wasn’t amended, so no.”
Happier times: New MP Hannah Spencer and Green Party leader Zack Polanski attend a press conference in February after Spencer won the Gorton and Denton by-election with 14,980 votes. Reform came second, pushing Labour into third place. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)But he added: “Ultimately, I agree with the substance of the motion. Where I disagree is the idea the Green Party should be deciding what the future of the region looks like.”
On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Polanski, who is Jewish, repeatedly refused to say whether Israel had a right to exist.
“I believe Israelis and Palestinians should have equal rights in a democracy,” he said.
Polanski was defeated by Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali, who retained the north London seat for Labour.
She secured 45 per cent of the vote to the Greens’ 33 per cent, a majority of 3,364.
Holborn and St Pancras has been a Labour stronghold since its formation in 1983, held by Frank Dobson for 32 years and Starmer for 11.
But Polanski remained defiant, insisting “of course I can carry on” while acknowledging that Green members would ultimately decide his face.
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