As Keir Starmer navigates a series of policy reversals and his Chancellor appears to lead the country into a taxing financial quagmire, it’s hard not to wonder how the situation could deteriorate further.

Enter Zack Polanski, a figure whose political ascent might feel as unwelcome as discovering a wasp’s nest in the attic or the unpleasant surprise of a dead rat beneath the floorboards.

Polanski presents himself as a well-meaning individual striving for positive change. Openly gay and Jewish, with pro-Palestinian views, he embraces a vegan lifestyle. His wardrobe is sourced from secondhand outlets like Vinted, and he humorously acknowledges his quintessentially English dental imperfections. He neither drives nor flies and champions the mantra of “hope, not hate.”

His appeal resonates strongly with younger generations, especially young women, earning him the highest approval ratings among UK politicians in these demographics.

A recent YouGov poll indicates that if the electorate consisted solely of women aged 18 to 24, the Green Party would secure an impressive 44% of the vote, significantly outpacing Labour’s 21%, with the Conservatives and Reform trailing at 8% and 5%, respectively.

However, beneath his amiable exterior, some critics argue that Polanski might be one of the more unsettling figures in British politics.

His carefully curated persona is in stark contrast to his stated policies and beliefs. He is, bluntly, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 

And just like Starmer, he will say and do anything to pander to his base and get himself elected.

‘Zack Polanski’s carefully curated persona is in stark contrast to his stated policies and beliefs’

This week saw a classic example of this. The Green candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Hannah Spencer, released a promotional video voiced entirely in Urdu aimed at Pakistani Muslim residents in the area.

Urging voters to unite against the Reform candidate, Matt Goodwin, it painted him as a far-Right Trump supporter, and heavily referenced Gaza. This was no party-political broadcast. It was a naked piece of propaganda, designed to do little except stoke fear and deepen division.

Apart from the scaremongering about America and Israel, by voicing the whole thing in Urdu it automatically excluded the rest of the residents in the area, most of whom (the Pakistani Muslim population of Gorton and Denton is estimated at between 20 and 28 per cent) won’t have a clue what Ms Spencer is saying.

That sense of alienation was further underlined when Ms Spencer popped up in another video talking breathlessly about how she liked to fast in solidarity with Muslims during Ramadan.

None of this has anything to do with actual politics. It is simply sectarianism, every bit as one-dimensional and toxic as the kind of populist nonsense promoted by those on the far Right. They are all just as nasty as each other.

Polanski portrays himself as a moralist, but he’s not interested in right or wrong, just whatever is most expedient.

He knows, for example, that the pro-Palestinian movement is aggressively vocal and highly fashionable among young people, especially young women, many of whom seem to idolise the attacks of October 7, blinded as they are by their visceral hatred of Israel.

This is despite the unequivocal evidence of mass rape and torture, and despite the fact that Hamas is heavily connected to the regime in Iran, where young women are being raped, tortured and executed for daring to demand freedom.

Green candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election Hannah Spencer, pictured, released a promotional video voiced entirely in Urdu aimed at Pakistani Muslim residents in the area

All that is obscured by their loathing of a Jewish state.

Polanski knows this, and he uses his Jewish religion as a defence when attacking Israel, precisely because it plays well with his swooning voter base who, like Ms Spencer, enjoy cosplaying as oppressed minorities.

But they are fools. Polanski is like that boyfriend who love-bombs you with grand gestures and wild-eyed promises, only to turn out to be a card-carrying narcissist. Which brings us to policy. Let’s talk about that, shall we? Let’s see what Mr Nice Guy wants to do if he gets elected.

If elected, Polanski wants to legalise all drugs, including Class-As such as crack cocaine, heroin and the date-rape drug GHB – and build ‘direct partnerships’ between the UK and South American drug cartels.

He wants soft drinks that are laced with cocaine to be available at your local corner shop, and he wants psychoactive substances such as ecstasy and psychedelics to be on sale in nightclubs and music festivals.

Oh, and he suggests children ‘starting in primary school’ should be taught how to take drugs safely in Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons to ‘enhance the safety of all who use drugs’ – ensuring they get hooked good and proper early on.

It’s a policy that is aimed very clearly and quite nakedly at young voters, who – for obvious reasons, not least the absence of a frontal temporal lobe – tend to favour decriminalisation of harmful substances.

But it’s not about ‘public health’, as he claims, or about making it safer to take recreational drugs: that is already de facto the case, since personal drug use is almost never prosecuted by the authorities. Go to any music festival, and there are plenty of well-meaning people, especially charities, handing out drug-testing kits and helping youngsters who’ve overdosed.

If elected, Polanski wants to legalise all drugs, including Class-As such as crack cocaine, heroin and date-rape drug GHB

No, what Mr Polanski would do – under the guise of decriminalisation – is to make life easier (and vastly more profitable) for some of the most violent and depraved people in Britain, a move that will only serve to deepen the misery of families and individuals whose lives are blighted by addiction.

He talks ceaselessly about rinsing the rich and redistributing wealth but, pray tell me, what are drug dealers if not people who enjoy vast wealth at the expense of the poor and dispossessed? How warped to prioritise them while penalising genuine job creators and honest taxpayers.

As to building ‘direct partnerships’ between Britain and the drug cartels (he wants to ensure a sustainable supply of cocaine, apparently), does he have any inkling of what that actually means?

Perhaps he should switch on the news and see what’s happening in Mexico right now, where the assassination of the powerful drug lord ‘El Mencho’ has sparked running gun battles on the streets of Mexico City, as well as cars being torched and armed road-blocks, with tourists told to stay in their hotel rooms for their own safety. That’s what a world run by drug-runners looks like: hell on earth. And he wants to do business with these people?

Why doesn’t Polanski throw in legalising rape and murder while he’s at it – after all, isn’t that what those guys specialise in? Oh wait. Sorry, he’s ahead of me on that one. Yesterday it was revealed that Polanski is proposing legalising prostitution and making pornography ‘more accessible’. If there’s one industry where rape is an occupational hazard, it’s porn.

He wants to see brothels on Britain’s high streets, allowing local authorities to make it legal for commercial properties to be adapted for such purposes. Sex work involving consenting adults ‘should be decriminalised’, and ‘wherever possible particular areas should be designated where street prostitutes can work in safety without upsetting local residents and traders’.

Given the emerging history of trafficking in this country, and the shameful treatment of vulnerable young women caught up in this vile trade, we should be clamping down on this sort of behaviour, not encouraging it.

Note that Polanski has scorned discussion of the mainly Pakistani grooming gangs in Rotherham, dismissing it as a ‘racist narrative’ and a ‘far-Right’ exploitation of the issue. He has also voiced considerable opposition to a public inquiry on similar grounds. I think given his stunt in Gorton and Denton we can all infer why. 

Then again, you can infer quite a lot about a man who answers ‘Yes’ to the simple question: ‘Can a woman have a penis?’

So, in summary: Zack Polanski is pro prostitution, porn and hard drugs. Meanwhile, he’s against homeowners, savers, businesses and job creators, and he also hates it if you mention the fact that in 2013 he attempted to increase the size of a woman’s breasts through hypnotherapy.

Red flags? Don’t say you haven’t been warned.