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What’s happened here, then?
A British political party has seen a massive surge in support after bringing in a charismatic new populist leader.
Its membership numbers are hitting heights it previously couldn’t have dreamed of, and recent polls suggest it would more than double its national vote share if an election was held tomorrow.
…Are these the headlines from last year? We’ve covered Reform plenty
Aha! Gotcha.
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I’m talking about the Green Party of England and Wales, and its new head honcho Zack Polanski.
Though perhaps you weren’t caught out there. After all, the Greens have been generating way, way more interest than usual since Polanski took over last month.
Would you mind putting some numbers on that?
I’d love to. Last Sunday, Polanski claimed Green membership had hit 130,000 – more than the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, making it the third biggest party in the country.
By the way, that’s up from a reported 60,000 less than six months ago. Not to be sniffed at.
Meanwhile, YouGov’s latest voting intention poll shows the Greens on 15%, tied with the Lib Dems.
All that might be down to Polanski’s ability to capture attention: analysis from PR agency Be Broadcast has found broadcast coverage of the Green Party increased by 44% since early September, when airtime for other major parties went down.
All going to plan then?
It seems that way – Zack backers explicitly went into the leadership election saying they wanted to be bold and provocative in a manner reminiscent of Reform and Nigel Farage.
Like Farage, the new Green leader knows the appeal of clear, simple messaging and unabashed embrace of ideology… albeit from the other end of the political spectrum.
In interviews, he’s deft at manoeuvring his answers towards talking about taxing millionaires and billionaires.
That’s not just in traditional media, either. If you’re plugged into politics TikTok at all, you’ve probably seen Polanski’s face popping up regularly.
In his leader’s speech at the Green conference in Bournemouth earlier this month, he said: ‘If Reform can rocket through the polls with a politics of despair, then it’s time for the Green Party to do the same thing with a politics of hope.’
What could possibly go wrong?
With more exposure comes more scrutiny. That’s not been a challenge for Reform, but Polanski is more of a newbie on the national stage than Farage.
There may be broad support for a wealth tax among the public, but there’s more of a question mark over some of the Green Party’s less mainstream policies.
For example, Polanski wants to legalise (not just decriminalise) all drugs. He wants the UK to eventually pull out of Nato, and for the military alliance to be scrapped. He supports independence for Scotland and Wales, despite one of those countries being in the name of his party.
Will he be as successful in shifting the public debate over this stuff as Farage has been on matters like mass deportation? We’ll have to see.
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