Green party members elect new leader: who are the candidates?

Channel 4

3 days ago

There's a buzz in the air as
Green party
members gather for the last hustings to elect a new leader before polls open on Friday. We've come down to speak with the candidates before they make their case to members in Hoxton Hall, East London on Wednesday evening.
Most commentators seem to think the insurgent candidate Zack Polanski will win: a gay, Jewish, London Assembly member from Manchester who is standing on an eco-populist platform, promising to out-Farage Nigel Farage.
He certainly had an air of confidence in his prospects when he sat down with me to discuss his vision for the future, claiming in these uncertain times people are looking for bold leadership. He wants to appeal to those on the progressive left who feel Labour has turned its back on them, saying the Greens under his leadership would be their new political home.
Naturally his challengers, the current co-leader Adrian Ramsay and his new running mate Ellie Chowns, disagree they should be so narrow. They think the party should continue to attract a broader base, pointing to the fact that the party had a
record number of Green MPs
elected last year, as well as currently holding over 800 council seats.
Narrow appeal
They say taking the party in a new direction that would narrow its appeal to mainly the progressive left would be a mistake, especially with competition from the recent creation of
Jeremy Corbyn's new party
.
It's personal to them: they both won rural seats off the Conservatives last year, quadrupling the number of Green MPs to a record high of four. Victory in Tory seats for the first time ever. The fear from their supporters is not only is the success of the party at stake if they change course from their broader appeal, but perhaps their seats too.
I put to Chowns that it was perhaps the unique anti-Tory sentiment at the last election that led to their victory, as opposed to a masterplan from the Greens.
'Yes, of course there were particular circumstances. Yes, of course… individual factors of candidates and local circumstances do influence elections as well as the national picture. We can't predict what that's going to be like in four years' time, but what we can do is make sure that we are the strongest possible electoral force.'
On whether you could be a credible political leader without being an MP, Chowns said: 'I do think it would be a shame and a mistake not to take that opportunity, because it's not only that Westminster is the centre of the political debate, you know, on a day to day basis.'
But Polanski, perhaps unsurprisingly, disagreed: 'I don't think it matters either way… I think actually what people in this country want is someone who can cut through.'
The emergence of a new party from Jeremy Corbyn was frustrating at first for Polanski, but he now finds it exciting.
Curious
'Whilst I believe the Green Party should and will stand on its own merits and our own policy, I think it would be madness to not at least be curious about what they're offering, whether that's a coalition or an alliance.' He did rule out working with Labour under Keir Starmer, though.
Ellie Chowns agreed to an extent 'cooperation is in the DNA of the Greens' and didn't rule out joining forces with Corbyn or Labour, especially if it meant staving off a rise for Reform, but argued the party in its current form has a much broader appeal than the former Labour leader.
But it's an unlikely political leader that has most driven both candidates: Nigel Farage. For Chowns, it spurred her decision to go into politics aged 40. Polanski isn't a fan either, but does concede the Reform leader has been incredibly successful in driving political change, and wants to be the Left's answer to him.
He is pitching to be an Eco-populist leader – representing 'the 99% versus the 1%. The 1% are those corporations that are destroying our environment, our communities and our democracy'.
Populism
Chowns is less keen to associate her co-leadership campaign with the term: 'I'm a little bit nervous of the word populism. I'm more focused on popularity for the Green Party. And I think there is a distinction. You know, populism can be associated with simplifying language, with, you know, one kind of grey leader type approach to politics. And I think that what the Green Party has shown through recent years of our success is that we've achieved popularity by reaching out to that widest possible range of people.'
The debate has been bruising at times – especially when Adrian Ramsey struggled to say he liked his deputy turned political rival Zack Polanski – something Polanski told me had been 'really crap' to hear.
'I think on a human level, it's horrible to hear someone not be able to say they like you… Has [the debate] been bruising? Yes. But I'm really pleased it has been because we've been having a proper debate about proper issues that really matter.'
Ultimately, there isn't much difference in the two sides' offerings. Both accept it mainly boils down to style over substance and who they are trying to appeal to. Whichever candidate emerges at the helm of the Greens will have a defining influence on the shape of any future left-wing alliance.
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