It was bound to happen sooner or later, but coming at the beginning of a local election campaign in which his party is expected to make a huge breakthrough, it is pretty much the worst time for Zack Polanski. The nice, middle-class Greens who joined the party because they care deeply about the climate, bunnies and hedgehogs are rebelling against Polanski’s efforts to turn it into a far-left party obsessed with trans issues and Palestine.     

Last week, Michael de Whalley, a Green councillor on Kings Lynn and West Norfolk borough council, resigned his membership and now sits as an independent. All parties suffer defections of councillors on a regular basis, yet in this case de Whalley – who set up the local party in West Norfolk in 2009 after a career in the RAF – seems to be speaking for a very large number of the party’s oldest and most-established supporters. ‘I was always impressed that the Green party........

© The Spectator