What should the City make of eco-populist Zack Polanski ?
The new leader of the Green Party once claimed he could increase a journalist’s breast size through hypnotism. Now Zack Polanski says wealth taxes can fix climate change. William Atkinson casts a sceptical eye
In the 1980s and 1990s, the German Green Party was riven by a split between the Fundis and the Realos. The Fundis – short for fundamentalist – were the ideologues, committed to the belief that economic growth was at the root of ecological problems. Nothing short of an end to industry and a return to rural life would save Germany’s environment. By contrast, the Realos were the pragmatists, who favoured cooperating with other parties within the existing political system. Ultimately, the latter won out, with the Greens going on to twice serve as the junior partner in a governing coalition.
Today, Britain’s Greens straddle a similar divide. The New Fundis are those who want to tack left to pick up voters disillusioned with Labour; the new Realos – those who point out that two of the three seats that they gained last year were previously solidly Conservative. Those voters might be spooked by reheated Corbynism. In both Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire, the Greens leapt from nine per cent in 2019 to over 40 per cent in 2024. Since then, the new MPs have proved as Nimby as any shire Tory, including opposing electric pylons, making delivering ‘clean’ energy that little bit harder.
Today that debate appears to have been settled – at least for the time being. Zach Polanski was elected as the new Green leader. A self-described ‘eco-populist’, Polanksi has not only declared his willingness to collaborate with Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s as-yet-untitled party but has voiced his support for a panoply of hard-left policies – from tax hikes on the wealthy, to a more vigorous approach to net zero, to an unapologetically positive approach to migration. He beat out a joint ticket of Adrian Ramsey and Ellie Chowns, the two MPs elected in Tory seats last year.
He plans to focus his party on “redistributing wealth, funding public services and calling out the genocide in Gaza” – in short whatever is this week’s left-wing cause celebre
Readers would be forgiven for looking at Polanski with a sceptical eye. He is a former hypnotherapist, previously known for providing a session to a Sun journalist to increase her breast size. Once a Liberal Democrat, Polanski switched to the Greens in 2017, later being elected to the London Assembly. He plans to focus his party on “redistributing wealth, funding public services and calling out the genocide in Gaza” – in short whatever is this week’s left-wing cause célèbre. Bleating about a wealth tax is more exciting than the tedious business of preserving the environment.
A leftie rent-a-gob
Yet even if Polanski seems to be little more than a leftie rent-a-gob, his win is an undoubted sign of the direction of travel on the British left. As Labour MPs appear ever-more reluctant to cut spending, Rachel Reeves will be forced further down the rabbit hole of self-defeating tax rise after self-defeating tax rise. Bolstered by Torsten Bell, a panoply of new hikes will be proposed – not only to make her sums add up, but to appease both Labour backbenchers and voters who may be tempted by what the Greens and the Corbynites are offering. The government is acting as though Reform are its biggest opponents, but it is far more likely to bleed votes from its left than its right.
And what of the turquoise peril? Hastily announced policies like abandoning net zero altogether and taxing renewables are dismissed by the industry and risk alienating voters who consistently rank climate change high on their list of concerns they want politicians to tackle. Worse, they will push up bills.
All this does leave the space open for a party willing to make the arguments about environmental stewardship that Polanski and Farage neglect. Kemi Badenoch has inserted her power drill into this territory promising to drain the North Sea of every drop of oil and gas.
And this week, the Conservative Environment Network has released a new essay collection, Returning to our Roots, explaining the long heritage of Tory environmentalism, and how a conservative approach to our natural world can win both hearts and minds. In the words of Michael Gove – my editor, a former Environment Secretary, and the author of the collection’s foreword – “the Conservatives Promise is rooted in nature”.
What the Tories really need is a leader who combines the radical thinking of Reform, the social media insurgent tactics of Polanski and actual answers on the biggest challenges Britain is facing. We are all asking if Badenoch is that woman.
William Atkinson is assistant content editor at The Spectator