The Green Party leader’s days appear to be numbered after humiliating defeat

Zack Polanski (Image: Getty)
Zack Polanski’s days are numbered as Green Party leader – and he knows it. After suffering a humiliating defeat to Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali in the high-stakes Holborn and St Pancras by-election, the former hypnotist’s political spell over his party has officially been broken.
The loony left nearly destroyed the Labour Party during the Corbyn years – and now they are busy destroying the Greens from within. Polanski thought he could conquer Keir Starmer’s old constituency and present himself as the undisputed kingmaker of radical left politics. Instead, his grand gamble collapsed into absolute farce.
Desperate to rescue his sinking campaign, Polanski made the fatal error of cutting short his attendance at the Greens’ annual conference in Brighton.
By sneaking away early to campaign in London, he was absent when party activists voted through a deeply toxic and damaging “Zionism is Racism” motion.
Get the latest politics news – straight from our team in Westminster and more
Invalid email
You agree you are 18 or over. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. You can unsubscribe at any time. More Info.
That catastrophic vote plunged the Green Party into full-scale meltdown, exposing a party fundamentally unfit for mainstream political life.

Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)
Add to that his abysmal personal approval ratings – plunging to a catastrophic net rating of -29 after re-sharing offensive social media posts depicting violence against Nigel Farage – and it is clear why a majority of Britons now view the Greens as completely unserious. Activists and party insiders are already sharpening their knives to kick him out.
Yet Polanski’s self-inflicted downfall is music to the ears of Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street hastened the demise of the so-called “Green surge” that saw them snatch Gorton & Denton earlier this year.
By holding Holborn and St Pancras comfortably, Burnham demonstrated that Labour can easily hold off challenges from radical flank candidates when the threat is tackled head-on.
Polanski’s imminent removal will plunge the Greens back into bitter factional civil war and internal warfare.
Without Polanski’s media-savvy antics to command the headline agenda, the party’s momentum will evaporate entirely.
For Burnham, this couldn’t come at a better time. A shattered, leaderless Green Party removes the primary threat to Labour’s left flank.
Worryingly, this will give No 10 breathing space to push forward Burnham’s legislative agenda unchallenged.
And it could result in Labour extending its slim poll lead over Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Kemi Badenoch’s Tories.
But the overall message from voters is loud and clear: the Green circus is over, Zack Polanski is heading for the exit.
Andy Burnham is accused of inciting disorder after a record 781 migrants crossed the Channel in one day, while Reform UK warns numbers are accelerating.

Andy Burnham accused of ‘inciting disorder’ over migrant crisis (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has been accused of inciting disorder across the country because of the way his Government is handling the migration crisis.
It comes after his administration suffered its worst day on record, with 781 illegal migrants breaking into the country in unlawful Channel crossings in a single day.
The record-breaking influx also saw two boats arrive on UK shores undetected, sparking fury in Westminster and triggering threats of protests at migrant sites.
Horrendous footage and pictures, seen in Thursday’s Daily Express, also show what appears to be a man abandoning a child in the water so he can climb aboard a crowded dinghy.
Reform UK’s Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf warned that numbers were “accelerating” despite Home Office claims that the overall total had reduced.
He told Good Morning Britain that the UK has had “north of 210,000 people turn up on our beaches illegally in the past eight years” and warned “people’s lives are being turned upside down”.
Those comments were in relation to the village of Piddington, which recently hosted a symbolic referendum to leave the UK in protest against the housing of migrants at a nearby base.
Mr Yusuf said residents “are terrified that they are about to be outnumbered 10 to 1 by illegal migrant men”.
Home Office data shows a decline in the number of crossings this year, but critics say the overall figure remains far too high, with an insufficient number of people being sent back to their countries of origin.

Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf accuses Andy Burnham of inciting disorder (Image: Getty)
In a scathing attack on the Prime Minister, Mr Yusuf said: “Andy Burnham is inciting disorder in Britain by wielding the state’s monopoly on violence to impose unvetted men from countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea into local communities.”
He added: “This is unprecedented. I am worried the country is heading to a dark place.”
His remarks refer to footage showing coaches used to transfer migrants from the coast to immigration centres being accompanied by a police escort.
There have been mounting protests by masked men near locations used to hold migrants, though police support for security reasons is not uncommon.
