Freed from the burden of choosing a prospective government, by-elections are an opportunity for voters to tell the political class how they really feel. It is therefore no great surprise that the people of Gorton and Denton, until now a solid Labour heartland, have called on the uber-left Greens to give the status quo a kicking, with Reform coming in second. For the Conservatives, the more interesting story is not the Greens’ success in outer Manchester, but what the Green surge at the national level says about the voters who have been drifting into Zack Polanski’s orbit.

The Greens have previously benefited from the agreeable vagueness of their brand. Green is a comforting word, smelling of cut grass and virtue. A Green vote could be a small, moral nudge asking the political class to do better to protect the local river, or a guilt-free protest vote. 

The Greens have previously benefited from the agreeable vagueness of their brand

The Greens have previously benefited from the agreeable vagueness of their brand

Particularly in the old Tory shires, that nudge has become visible. At the last general election there was a small but notable trend of well-heeled, well-meaning voters moving toward the Greens and away from the Conservatives. An official Blue-to-Green switch took place in two........

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