Zack Polanski has stormed to victory in the Green Party leadership election on a platform promising bold communication and “eco-populism”.The new leader said he would now “take the fight to Labour”, telling Sir Keir Starmer’s party: “We are here to replace you.”While he’s made a name for himself as a feisty media performer among the party faithful, he’s little known outside the London Assembly, where he is an elected member.Beating two of the party’s four MPs to the leadership, the 42-year-old has already faced down the charge that he doesn’t have the establishment heft of those elected to Parliament in a first-past-the-post system.Polanski has had an unconventional path to politics, previously working as an actor, hypnotherapist and mental health counsellor.Born in 1982, he grew up in Salford, heading to university in Aberystwyth, north Wales, before ending up in Hackney, east London.His political awakening started by joining the Liberal Democrats, a party he now criticises as being insufficiently left-wing, and standing unsuccessfully for Camden Council and the London Assembly.He joined the Greens in 2017, working as a local party chairman before getting elected to City Hall in 2021 and becoming the party’s deputy leader in 2022.He is gay and also Jewish, changing his name from David Paulden when he reached 18 in order to embrace the identity erased by his family’s anglicised name.As deputy leader, Polanski has played a role in the party’s growing electoral success.In last year’s ge …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnZack Polanski has stormed to victory in the Green Party leadership election on a platform promising bold communication and “eco-populism”.The new leader said he would now “take the fight to Labour”, telling Sir Keir Starmer’s party: “We are here to replace you.”While he’s made a name for himself as a feisty media performer among the party faithful, he’s little known outside the London Assembly, where he is an elected member.Beating two of the party’s four MPs to the leadership, the 42-year-old has already faced down the charge that he doesn’t have the establishment heft of those elected to Parliament in a first-past-the-post system.Polanski has had an unconventional path to politics, previously working as an actor, hypnotherapist and mental health counsellor.Born in 1982, he grew up in Salford, heading to university in Aberystwyth, north Wales, before ending up in Hackney, east London.His political awakening started by joining the Liberal Democrats, a party he now criticises as being insufficiently left-wing, and standing unsuccessfully for Camden Council and the London Assembly.He joined the Greens in 2017, working as a local party chairman before getting elected to City Hall in 2021 and becoming the party’s deputy leader in 2022.He is gay and also Jewish, changing his name from David Paulden when he reached 18 in order to embrace the identity erased by his family’s anglicised name.As deputy leader, Polanski has played a role in the party’s growing electoral success.In last year’s ge …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
