by Chris Harris 21/8/26
For a while, Zack Polanski looked as though he had pulled off something close to a political miracle. He had made the Green Party interesting. For years the Greens had an image problem: worthy, principled and occasionally influential, but also earnest, predictable and, frankly, rather dull. Then along came Polanski, energetic, confident, combative, good on camera and completely at home in the world of TikTok, Instagram and online political argument. Suddenly people were talking about the Greens.
Green members absolutely loved him. In the September 2025 leadership election Polanski didn’t just win, he walked it, receiving around 84% of the vote. It was an extraordinary mandate, and initially the members appeared to have spotted something important. Modern politics isn’t simply about policy; it’s about personality, communication and creating the feeling that something new is happening. Polanski understood that brilliantly.
The Polanski Effect
Whatever you think of him now, his impact has been remarkable. Green membership stood at roughly 68,000–70,000 when he became leader. Within weeks it had passed 100,000, and by March 2026 it had exceeded 200,000. In around six months, membership had roughly tripled. The Greens also gained unprecedented publicity and enjoyed spectacular electoral successes, including overturning a Labour majority of more than 13,000 in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Polanski deserves enormous credit for that. He gave the Greens energy, confidence and, most importantly, relevance. But the qualities required to create an insurgency aren’t necessarily those required to turn one into a serious party of government. Polanski calls his approach “eco-populism”: identify the issue, find the villain, simplify the argument and produce something that works brilliantly on social media. It’s extremely effective campaigning. The problem is that running a country is rather more complicated than making a TikTok video.
When Social Media Becomes the Problem
The platforms that helped create Polanski has increasingly become a liability. After the Golders Green stabbing in April, he reposted criticism of police officers who had tackled the knife-wielding suspect, before apologising and admitting he had shared the material “in haste”. Then in July he shared an image featuring a man wearing a T-shirt depicting a guillotine alongside the words “We’re only making plans for Nigel”, referring to Nigel Farage. Polanski deleted it and said he hadn’t properly noticed what was on the shirt.
One embarrassing social-media mistake is unfortunate. Two in a few months starts looking like poor judgement. Polanski isn’t an obscure activist desperately trying to attract attention anymore. He leads a party with more than 200,000 members and MPs in Parliament. The Guardian has even reported frustration within the Greens over his prolific social-media activity and discussion about whether professionals should have greater control of his accounts.
More worrying are his personal ratings. In April, YouGov had Polanski at 26% favourable and 34% unfavourable — a net rating of minus eight. By July, just 20% viewed him favourably while 46% viewed him unfavourably: minus 26. That’s an 18-point deterioration in a matter of months. His great talent was getting himself noticed. The problem is that once everybody notices you, they also get to decide whether they actually like you.
Under the spotlight, he has shown himself to be flawed; houseboats and taxes, creative backstories and general clumsiness have wiped out his aura.
Has the Green Party Become Something Else?
It would be wrong to say the Greens have no policies. They do, including rent controls, public ownership of water, renewable-energy investment and wealth taxes. The better question is whether they are developing a broad and credible programme for government or becoming a personality-driven vehicle for the activist left.
That matters to traditional Greens. Green politics has historically attracted environmentalists, conservationists, localists and people concerned about biodiversity, sustainable communities and excessive development — not simply people to the left of Labour. Polanski’s version is louder, more confrontational and considerably further to the left. It has attracted thousands of politically homeless voters, but some longstanding Greens may reasonably wonder whether their party has expanded or simply changed into something else.
Those 200,000 members shouldn’t be taken for granted. Many have joined because something new and exciting appears to be happening. If the Polanski project becomes defined by ideological arguments, social-media rows and controversies surrounding its leader, they could bugger off just as quickly in search of the next shiny political object.
Perhaps Polanski Has Done His Job
Which raises an interesting possibility: perhaps Polanski has already achieved what the Greens needed him to achieve. He took a party with roughly 70,000 members and helped turn it into one with more than 200,000. He made Green politics fashionable, generated enormous publicity and persuaded thousands of people to take the party seriously. That’s a significant political achievement.
But the person who shakes an organisation up isn’t necessarily the person best equipped to lead its next stage. Kinnock booted out the left, Blair provided the polish. The Greens needed a disruptor. Perhaps now they need a calmer, pragmatic and grounded politician capable of turning this extraordinary burst of enthusiasm into a credible national political organisation.
The Green Party currently has something precious: momentum. It has more than 200,000 members, five MPs, thousands of activists and a level of national attention it could once only have dreamed about. Much of the credit for that belongs to Zack Polanski. But momentum is easily wasted.
The Greens’ next leadership election will eventually give members the opportunity to decide whether the man who created the excitement is also the right person to turn that excitement into something lasting.
Zack Polanski arrived when the Greens desperately needed someone like Zack Polanski. He shook them awake, brought thousands through the door and made British politics pay attention. Perhaps his greatest achievement now would be recognising when that job is done and he has utilised his talents as far as he can. Is now the time to bring in a serious grown-up to knit the traditional Greens together with the new wave of younger, more left-wing members?
Maybe he can raise his game, but I don’t think he can. I believe there is no depth to him other than a populist presentation; he has taken that as far as he can, and now a bad whiff surrounds him.
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