Zack Polanski, the insurgent candidate for Green party leader whose “eco-populism” and social media savvy have upended the race, is starting to pull away from his more-established rivals, senior figures believe.
There is a growing expectation that the election will be won by the 42-year-old former Liberal Democrat, who appears to have seized the initiative from his opponents. One likened it to a “hostile takeover”.
The comment relates to an apparent influx of new left-leaning members in local areas, attracted by his modern communications method and more pugnacious style. It has left his nearest opponents, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, struggling to gain traction despite their head start in terms of profile within the party.
Voting by members continues throughout August, and without any interim polling any views are necessarily anecdotal. But a series of Green politicians, speaking anonymously, say Polanski is making waves with the grassroots.
Ramsay and Chowns are largely seen as the choice of the party establishment, including the former leader Caroline Lucas, but Polanksi has also picked up endorsements. One of his backers is Caroline Russell, the Green leader on the London assembly, where he also sits.
Russell said in a statement that while she was a big admirer of the other pair, Polanksi had “shown how well he connects with people and with the media, gaining serious air time for the Greens”.
“I’m off the fence,” she said.
Allies of Ramsay, who is currently co-leader with another of the party’s MPs, Carla Denyer, say the race is much closer, and that many longer-standing members who are not active on social media could turn out to push it the other way.
One thing does, however, seem certain. The race to lead the Greens in England and Wales has been unusually – if only occasionally – rancorous, particularly given it is a position with little power and that for complex procedural reasons the term will only last for a year.
Allies of Ramsay and Chowns, both among the party’s record haul of four MPs elected last year, say the pair have faced a “concerted and sometimes horrible” online response from Polanski supporters, something his allies dispute. For Polanski’s part, he was visibly upset after Ramsay refused to say whether he liked his opponent during a recent joint radio interview.
The tension is in part a factor of the higher-than-usual stakes, given the Greens’ possibly pivotal role at the next election. But it is also a reflection of the very differing approaches the candidates offer.
Ramsay and Chowns promise a continued focus on gradually winning more council and parliamentary seats, while Polanski says he also wants to make the Greens a mass-membership “eco-populism” movement that creates headlines as effectively as Nigel Farage and Reform.
One senior party member said some opponents were upset by the way that Polanski, who joined the Greens only in 2017, took the party hierarchy by surprise in launching his leadership bid in May through a Guardian interview.
“It feels a bit like a hostile takeover of the party,” they said. “No one knew he was planning this, and suddenly there are all these new members who tend to feel very much from the left.”
This is by no means a consensus view. One Green councillor said they had been cheered by the seeming injection of energy and new activists inspired by Polanski in their local branch. “He’s clearly a fantastic communicator and knows how to pitch his vision,” they said. “I think Zack is doing really well.”
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Some Polanski supporters express frustration with what they see as the overly cautious approach of the current leadership, arguing that the party must seize an unprecedented opportunity in British politics.
But Ramsay and Chowns have openly expressed scepticism at what they see as Polanski’s polarising and simplistic approach, arguing that his more overtly left-leaning stance – he has said he could be open to working with the new party co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana – are likely to put off more moderate voters.
Polanski lives in north-east London and is expected to try to stand for a seat there, while Ramsay and Chowns won largely rural, Conservative-facing seats last July, in East Anglia and Herefordshire respectively. They say Polanski would be unlikely to appeal in such areas.
Ramsay, who was first elected as a Green councillor 22 years ago at the age of 21, said he and Chowns were “really excited by the conversations we’re having with party members around the country”, and that a lot of them had expressed pride at what had been achieved in building up the number of councillors and MPs.
“Particularly, I think, people can see that the broad appeal we have developed in recent years. We have pulled ourselves out of the wilderness,” he said. “We’ve got to keep our appeal broad.”
He predicted the election result would hinge on the turnout. “I would urge party members to vote, because the higher the turnout, the more we can be confident the result reflects what party members want,” he said. “And that’s what matters in an election.”
Polanski said he was “confident but not complacent” about the contest so far.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response my campaign has been getting from the public online, along with countless longstanding members at hustings and regional visits up and down the country,” he said. “But none of this enthusiasm and support counts for anything if people don’t turn out to vote.”