A former hypnotist dubbed ‘the boob whisperer’ was elected the new Green Party leader today in a move that could heap even greater electoral pressure on Keir Starmer.
Zack Polanski, a self-declared ‘eco-populist’ who has touted a link-up with ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, comfortably won a race to take over from Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.
He is a former actor and Harley Street hypnotist who, in 2013, featured in a newspaper article in which he claimed he could help women increase the size of their breasts.
He is also a former Extinction Rebellion activist who was arrested at a demo in 2019. Earlier this year he showed his support for now banned terrorist group Palestine Action before it was proscribed.
After an election lasting all summer he won 20,411 votes, beating a joint ticket featuring MPs Adrian Ramsey and Ellie Chowns, who won just 3,705.
The election of the former Liberal Democrat as leader is likely to signal a move even further to the left by the party, which won a record four seats in the 2024 election.
The London Assembly member announced his candidacy with an interview in May in which he said he wanted the Green Party to drop its support for the UK staying in Nato.
More recently he has been batting his eyelids at disaffected leftwing Labour MPs who find themselves on the fringe of the party under Sir Keir Starmer, urging them to come to the Greens as a home for the wider left.
With Mr Corbyn also setting up a new left party it could put pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s electoral base from the left as it tries to catch up with Reform in the polls.
In a message to Sir Keir and Labour, Mr Polanski said the Green Party was going to ‘replace you’.
Mr Polanski won by almost 17,000 votes.
While a Green candidate in 2019 he was among the first Extinction Rebellion activists to be arrested for blocking Waterloo Bridge in London, as part of a six-day protest bringing roads to a halt across London.
Zack Polanski posted pictures on his social media showing his backing for Palestine Action, the organisation accused of breaking into an RAF base and vandalising aircraft and later proscribed as a terrorist group.
‘This is the Green Party’s time. People in this country are exhausted. They are tired. They are sick of working long hours and never feeling secure,’ he added.
‘They see water companies pumping sewage into our waters and charging us extra for the privilege, and they see how broken the old two-party system is, and we know this political space has been ripe for charlatans like Nigel Farage and Reform, millionaires who are pretending to serve working-class communities but are actually backed by the same billionaires who are destroying our democracies, our communities and our planet.’
The result will determine the party’s direction over the coming years as it seeks to pitch itself as a serious progressive alternative to Labour, having increased its Commons representation to four MPs last year.
Throughout a sometimes fractious campaign, Mr Polanski has urged the Greens to be ‘bold’ and pushed what he brands an ‘eco-populist’ agenda, while his rivals emphasised a need to appeal to a wide range of voters.
Mr Ramsay, the incumbent co-leader and MP for Waveney Valley, and North Herefordshire MP Ms Chowns have accused him of using ‘polarising’ language that only appeals to a ‘narrow segment’ of the electorate.
Mr Polanski’s insurgent campaign had encouraged people to sign up to the Greens ahead of the vote, leading to accusations of ‘entryism’ from some of his opponents – accusations he has denied.
Unlike other parties, the Greens hold leadership elections every two years.
This year’s contest was to have been held in 2024, after Mr Ramsay and his co-leader Carla Denyer were elected for an extraordinary three-year term in 2021, but the poll was delayed in order to avoid a clash with the general election.
Ms Denyer decided not to stand for re-election in May this year.
The London Assembly member has been nicknamed ‘the boob whisperer’ by online wags over a 2013 interview with the Sun when, while working as a Harley Street hypnotherapist, he purported to help women increase the size of their bust.
The London Assembly member has been nicknamed ‘the boob whisperer’ by online wags over a 2013 interview with the Sun when, while working as a Harley Street hypnotherapist, he purported to help women increase the size of their bust.
He told a reporter to picture herself with bigger breasts as part of a treatment and said his method could become ‘popular very quickly, because it’s so safe and a lot cheaper than a boob job.’
The newspaper said he then told her: ‘Imagine you’re in a movie. I want you to make the image bigger and brighter so it fills the screen. Now step it up and feel what it’s like having your new breasts. Are you walking differently? Do you look happy?’
He apologised for his comments on breasts to a local news website, when he was running as the Green candidate at the 2019 election in Cities of London and Westminster.
But speaking to the Big Issue in June he claimed he had been the victim of ‘misrepresentation’.
Born in 1982, Mr Polanski didn’t even join the Greens until he was in his mid-30s, according to his own campaign website.
He was born David Paulden in Salford but changed his name aged 18. He told the Big Issue in June that he chose Zack because of the Jewish refugee character in Goodnight Mr Tom.
Polanski was his Jewish grandfather’s name before he changed it to evade anti-Semitism after moving to the UK.
He unsuccessfully stood as a Lib Dem London council candidate in 2015 and 2016, but then switched to the Greens, winning election to the London Assembly in 2021 and again in 2024.
While a Green candidate in 2019 he was among the first Extinction Rebellion activists to be arrested for blocking Waterloo Bridge in London, as part of a six-day protest bringing roads to a halt across London.
Writing about it for the Huffington Post he said he was ‘proud to have played my part’.
Showing support for Palestine Action did no harm to his prospects in a very pro-Palestinian party.
Alongside a picture, he posted online from Glastonbury Mr Polanski wrote: ‘Our government is selling arms being used to commit genocide. Israel kills a child every 45 minutes. We are all Palestine Action.’
But his support also came just days before Palestine Action as outlawed.
