It wasn’t so long ago that Zack Polanski was riding high politically, on the brink of making the Greens a truly nationwide party and with a huge personal brand. But it was long enough ago for none of that to matter now: he has failed to win the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, and in the eyes of many senior Greens, he has failed to lead the party responsibly. It is now in a mess that few seem to have faith in Polanski to be able to fix. 

Polanski was 3,000 votes behind Labour victor Sagal Abdi-Wali. He may well argue that his share of the vote increased a whole 22 points from the Greens’ 2024 general election result. But they weren’t fighting that seat in the same way, and he wasn’t the candidate. He had come under increasing pressure to stand for a parliamentary seat, and the constituency vacated by Keir Starmer, whose lack of passion and conviction had sent many voters to the Greens, seemed the perfect location. 

But Polanski........

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