Zack Polanski: ‘We’ve had decades of politicians who never really say what they believe’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Zack Polanski would like to clear something up. It’s about his teeth. 

“I’ve never lost a tooth,” he says, pointing at the distinctive gap in the back of his mouth. “The gap that I have is a baby tooth that fell out a couple of years ago — the actual tooth is still in my gum.” In our meeting room at the Sir Christopher Wren Hotel in leafy Windsor, the Green Party leader pulls the wide grin that was described by one Daily Mail columnist as “jagged, gapped [with] shades of Hannibal Lecter”. He’s looking remarkably relaxed for someone that has become the newest favourite political target of the right-wing press. As for Jeremy Clarkson’s jibe that Polanski can’t even sort out his own teeth, let alone the country, he says, “Five or six dentists wrote to me recently to offer me pro bono work,” he says. “I just replied and said, ‘That’s really lovely of you, but there’s nothing wrong with my smile. I’m really happy with it!’”  

Today, the London Assembly member — he is not an MP (yet) — is the surprise guest at a staff day for Greenpeace senior management, most of whom clam up the second I approach them in the hotel brasserie. “I didn’t even know he was speaking,” one staffer tells me. 

If you move in vaguely left-wing circles, you’ll know exactly who Zack Polanski is

He’s met with the environmental charity before, but this time was “offering my thoughts and reflections”, he says mildly, “as [leader of] a political organisation that’s grown very rapidly”. That’s one way of putting it: since Polanski took over as leader in September, Green Party membership has skyrocketed to 126,000, making them the third largest party in the UK, ahead of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Local associations have had to turn people away at meetings because they’ve run out of space. (“We’ve had to start booking bigger rooms,” one frazzled activist told the Guardian.)  

If you move in vaguely left-wing circles, you’ll know exactly who Polanski is. You’ll almost certainly have been WhatsApped one of his many social media videos — most likely Let’s Make Hope Normal Again — usually by an excitable friend who may be considering joining the Greens. Or maybe you watched it yourself — after all, that clip alone has been watched 12 million times on X. His publicity blitz has been inescapable: turn on the telly and you’ll find Polanski slamming Labour on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, tearing into Trump on Question Time and defending migrants on Newsnight. These media appearances — in which Polanski deploys a lethal combination of bullish charm and forthrightness — have been instrumental in turning a long-sidelined party into genuine political contenders, and it’s for this that Polanski is being recognised as the Trailblazer of the Year of Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley.  

Polanski also has his own podcast, Bold Politics, where he chats to everyone from Drag Race queen Tia Kofi about queer allyship to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis on how the left can unite to defeat Reform. “We’ve had decades of politicians that have tried to triangulate positions, never really quite saying what it is that they believe, and you’re left afterwards no more informed than when the conversation started,” he says of his determination to speak for a disaffected electorate.

Under his brand of “eco-populism”, the Green Party is no longer just the party of the environment

As for what Polanski means by “bold politics”, he explains that he wants to stake out informed positions while being “absolutely engrossed in facts, data and science” and working with community and minority groups “so you’re not speaking for people… but [with] people”. It’s harder than it sounds, he says. “The reason why it’s bold is because all of this would be very easy if we didn’t have vested interests.” Those common vested interests being focused on challenging “[the] very powerful and wealthy people in this country who are hoarding that power and that wealth. Anytime you challenge the status quo, they will often lash back.”

With Labour slumping in the polls and moving to the right on issues like immigration and trans rights, the Greens are staking a claim to become one of the only progressive parties left in Westminster. Part of that is due to the reinvention led by Polanski. Under his brand of “eco-populism”, the Green Party is no longer just the party of the environment. Its major concerns now include inequality, taxation, social justice, rent control and the cost of living. Some of its flagship policies involve nationalising water companies and introducing a one per cent wealth tax on assets of £10m and more. “I’m anti-capitalism,” explains Polanski. “I think there’s no real demonstration of where capitalism has worked around the world that hasn’t resulted in more suffering for people… It can’t be right that people with assets are being taxed less than people who are going out every day working for a living.” 

His solution? A re-imagining of capitalism. “People often think that criticising capitalism is criticising markets, the idea that people can’t buy and sell things anymore, and that’s absolutely nonsense. So I think it’s being very specific about what capitalism is, i.e., the hoarding of assets, hoarding of capital, the removal of the means of production for workers to be able to create their own work or receive the value added from the benefit of their work.” 

“Someone gave me a badge yesterday that said ‘clearly a lunatic’” – Polanski

In person, Polanski is much less combative than his media appearances suggest. He’s smartly dressed in a slim, second-hand Uniqlo suit and Dr. Martens brogues (vegan leather, obviously), but the overall look is more unassuming middle manager than slick political operator. At first, I don’t even notice him, mainly because he arrives at the hotel sans entourage. Thanks to the surge in Green Party membership, his team has expanded by 70 per cent, but the 43-year-old is flying solo today. Disarmingly solicitous to a fault, he apologises for making me travel this far when he finds out I live roughly 20 minutes down the road from him in Hackney — and he must be the first politician to offer me a cup of tea and actually jump up to make me one himself. “Sorry, there’s no milk,” he says apologetically.  

“Politicians — they’re just like us!” isn’t exactly startling psychological insight. But given the parade of weirdos, wilting lettuces and jokers that have defined British politics in the past decade, it’s no surprise that Polanski has made an impression. A left-wing politician who is able to stick up for trans people or migrants without prevaricating or tying themselves up in knots? Who happens to be a millennial who shops on Vinted and watches The Traitors to unwind? Talk about relatability — Polanski has it in spades. It’s no wonder that he’s firmly landed in the sights of both Labour and Reform, with Starmer calling him “reckless and irresponsible” and Nigel Farage branding him a “lunatic” in one recent speech. “Someone gave me a badge yesterday that said ‘clearly a lunatic’,” Polanski laughs, “which I have to confess I’ve not worn in public. But I thought it was nice!” 

This is an excerpt from a feature appearing in Attitude’s March/April 2026 issue.