Zack Polanski, the eco activist and one time thespian, is casting himself as the far left political counterweight to Nigel Farage. The leader of the Green Party proudly told the adoring crowds at the party’s conference in Bournemouth this year, “Say it loud, say it clear: refugees and migrants here.” The message is a clear contrast to Reform’s “detain and deport”. Under his leadership, Polanski has pushed party membership beyond one hundred and fifty thousand, a huge increase since his election as leader and the highest in the party’s history. According to a mid October poll published in the Independent, the Greens are also now polling “neck and neck” with Labour. No other political party enjoyed a post conference surge, not even Reform UK, although the latter remains the fastest growing party. The Tories remained steady at an underwhelming sixteen per cent, while Labour conceded a three point loss, likely made up of converts to the Greens. Polanski’s entrance into politics represents the increasingly diverse routes of recent years. Growing up in Salford, he went on to Aberystwyth University and then drama school in Atlanta, Georgia. He returned to London to work as an immersive theatre actor and later as a hypnotherapist, where he famously took part in a hypnotic experiment to increase a Sun reporter’s breast size. His pre politics career is a stark contrast to Siân Berry, two leaders before him, who took an MEng degree from Trinity College Oxford and worked in sustainable transport before joining the party as campaigns co ordinator. Polanski, forty two, initially entered politics as a Liberal Democrat, running for local council positions, but was also caught at a Momentum rally heckling Jeremy Corbyn about his apparent inaction to keep the United Kingdom in the EU. In 2017, Polanski joined the Greens and in April 2019 was detained after taking part in an Extinction Rebellion protest. In May 2021, he became a Member of the London Assembly for the party. Despite failing to secure significant party leadership backing for his 2025 leadership campaign, he comfortably won the contest with eighty five per cent of the vote share. His leadership comes at a difficult time for green politics. Since Covid, the cost of living crisis and Trump, government policy has been light on ambitious environmental action, with net zero under attack on various fronts. Frontline politics seems to have acknowledged that it has bigger economic problems. But Polanski’s leadership and his impact on party membership numbers represents a divergence from that trend. What is the secret of his appeal. There are some obvious advantages he brings. He speaks well, is confident and being Jewish has an easier time addressing the Israel–Hamas conflict which has become a touchstone issue for the left. As a gay and vegan man, he also presents a clear contrast to the rising right. Rather than acknowledging the appeal of Reform and mirroring it, he has made no attempt to appease its rhetoric. However, there is one tactic he employs willingly. Eco populism. Like Farage, Nick Tenconi and Rupert Lowe, he recognises the importance of a target. But in his case, it is not immigrants or civil servants, he wants to go after billionaires and water companies. He understands that a good political movement needs enemies and he finds those among the elites. And it is not just those guilty of pollution. He is happy to embody the commonplace left wing concern about the rich in general, saying: “We create divisions between the working class and the middle class when the real problem is people earning more money in their sleep than you could earn in your life. The real problem is the oligarchy.” Similarly, he recognises that the economic difficulties of recent years make it necessary to argue that a green economy benefits people’s pockets. In an opinion piece for the Guardian, he wrote: “A higher wage economy is a green economy and the Green Party will always stand side by side with people who face economic, social and environmental struggles.” Even on patriotism, Polanski gives the people what they want. He did not go as far as his former political ally Tim Farron by draping himself in Union Jacks, but he has said he wants to “reclaim progressive patriotism”. As British politics continues to fragment, with a new five or six party system, there is a chance it could play a role in the next government. With the demise of the Tories and Labour, a coalition government looks possible, with either a broad left or broad right alliance the beneficiary. Polanski says he has spoken to more than ten Labour MPs who are dissatisfied with the party under Keir Starmer and that the Greens would “absolutely” welcome disillusioned MPs, as long as they shared his party’s values. As the Greens assert their dominance as the voice of the left and the real alternative to Reform, Zack Polanski could one day be an outspoken even influential voice in the Commons, though he will need to be ele...