Green Party leader Zack Polanski is set to shift the party’s politics to the left after a landslide victory in the leadership contest.
Winning a staggering 84.6% of the votes, the once-underdog in the competition came out on top ahead of former co-leader Adrian Ramsay, and Ellie Chowns, who were running together on a joint ticket.
He is the first lone male leader of the party and the first Jewish leader of a party in Westminster since Ed Miliband.
Speaking after his victory, the new leader said his party would "take on power and wealth" in the UK.
Who is Zack Polanski, and what will the Green Party look like under his leadership?
Born in Salford as David Paulden, Zack changed his name at the age of 18 to differentiate himself from his stepfather (also David), and to return to his Jewish grandfather’s original surname.
Polanski had a fairly unconventional path into politics, wearing many hats before becoming the leader of a political party.
The 42-year-old previously worked as an actor and hypnotherapist before his recent roles as deputy leader of the Green Party and member of the London Assembly.
In 2016 he stood as a councillor for the Liberal Democrats, backing the party’s support for proportional representation, but switched to the Greens a year later, after hearing its stance on refugee rights.
He is gay, Jewish and vegan (the title of an episode of a podcast he appeared on in 2021), all of which have shaped and influenced his politics.
An incident which has dogged him and reared its head again when he announced his leadership intentions is a 2013 Sun article entitled “TIT-NOTISED Can you really THINK your boobs bigger?”
A journalist posing a client wrote that Polanski, who was working as a hypnotherapist at the time, boosted her bust size through hypnotherapy.
Polanski has since apologised for the experiment, which he said he did not charge for and was misrepresented by the newspaper.
Polanski is a self-proclaimed "eco-populist" who believes the Greens should provide a natural home for voters who are disillusioned with Labour.
He wants the party to take on Westminster with bolder positions on social and economic issues, alongside the Greens’ hallmark environmental ones.
However, his strong leftist views have caused division in the party. In an interview with the Guardian, Ellie Chowns warned the party could slide into irrelevance if it chose a leader with "polarising" views.
During his time on the London Assembly, he campaigned for the introduction of a basic income, pushed forward plant-based policies and championed the capital’s creative and cultural sectors.
He also used his platform to support pro-Palestine protesters, calling out "false and often racist narratives about the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s protests that have been peaceful" in an open letter to the Home Secretary.
