Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, is confronting the most severe crisis of his leadership to date, according to BBC political editor Chris Mason, following a vote at his party’s conference and a by-election defeat in north London.
Activists at the Green Party’s conference in Brighton last weekend passed a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism. The motion described Zionism as an ideology supporting “an ethnonationalist Jewish state” and endorsed “a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine”, a territory that takes in modern-day Israel.
Polanski — who is himself Jewish and has been banned from Israel — did not participate in the vote, saying he had chosen to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras instead. According to Mason, he repeatedly declined interview requests until today as pressure on him increased.
One Green figure told Mason: “He has created a monster he either can’t or won’t control.” Mason reports that this person is among many left furious at what has unfolded.
Party membership has grown more than threefold over the past year, and internal critics of Polanski say that growth includes hard-left campaigners whose focus is the Middle East rather than environmental concerns.
The dispute has spread beyond the party. The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have criticised the Greens, as have sister Green parties in Europe.
Caroline Lucas, a former party leader and one of the most significant figures in the Green movement of her generation, told BBC Newsnight that Polanski had failed to show leadership on the issue. She also declined to back him continuing as leader.
Asked by reporters after the by-election result whether he could carry on as leader, Polanski insisted: “of course I can carry on”.
He did not explicitly reject the motion his party has passed, referring to an “ongoing genocide and the displacement of the Palestinian people”. Israel has repeatedly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
Questioned on whether he believes in a two-state solution — an Israeli and a Palestinian state existing peacefully side by side — he replied: “I believe it is not our role to decide”.
He repeated that “it is my job to reassure people and make sure that we bring our party together”, adding: “No one will be excluded in the Green Party based on faith and religion.”
In the by-election, Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali won Holborn and St Pancras, succeeding Sir Keir Starmer as the constituency’s MP. She came to the UK as a child refugee from Somalia in the 1990s, grew up locally in Camden, became a councillor four years ago and was made council leader in May.
The seat has long been a safe Labour stronghold — the political home of the former prime minister and, before him, former cabinet minister Frank Dobson. Mason writes that a Labour victory there belongs in the “relief” column for Downing Street rather than the “jubilation” one.
The Greens, Mason notes, still performed strongly, pointing to a large swing in their favour since the general election and a result that was by a wide margin their second best ever at a Westminster by-election. A failure to win, he writes, would have prompted questions from some about stalling momentum.
The Conservatives finished third, beating Reform UK in an English by-election for the first time since the general election. Mason suggests Reform’s result was likely hampered by Restore Britain, which took almost half as many votes as Reform in a constituency that suits neither party well.
Mason concludes that while the campaign in Holborn and St Pancras is finished, the questions facing Polanski are not.
COMMENTS