Zack Polanski: Corbyn's true heir?
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Crowds of young people chant his name but the Green leader is "nervous", says Ailbhe Rea.
--
A year ago, Zack Polanksi was relatively unknown. Now, he's leading an "eco-populist" movement that has revitalised the Green Party and looks likely to propel a left-wing surge in the May local elections.
Ailbhe Rea profiled the Green leader for the New Statesman, meeting him shortly after he'd been addressing young activists. She found a "sweet, slightly nervous" man who admits he still has much to learn about running a political party.
Here Ailbhe speaks to Anoosh Chakelian about Zack Polanski's political position, his unusual background, and the lessons he might learn from Jeremy Corbyn.
LISTEN NEXT:
Attacks on Jews are an indictment of Keir Starmer's Britain
READ:
Zack Polanski is still learning
LISTEN AD-FREE:
📱Download the New Statesman app
MORE FROM THE NEW STATESMAN:
❓ Ask a question – we answer them every Friday
⏰ Get our daily politics newsletter every morning
✍️ Enjoy the best of our writing via email every Saturday
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman |
| 0:02.0 | Last year, Zach Polanski could walk down the street in peace. |
| 0:09.0 | Now, after just seven months of leading the Green Party, he goes on visits with a bodyguard, |
| 0:13.0 | gets mobbed by teens on the tube, and hosts club nights where crowds of young people chant his name. |
| 0:19.0 | Our political editor Alva Ray was given exclusive access to the man of the moment. |
| 0:25.1 | I'm Anusha Kellyan and you're listening to The Politics Show from The New Statesman. |
| 0:29.4 | And Alva, you're joining me down the line from Parliament. |
| 0:32.3 | Nice to chat to you again. |
| 0:34.5 | We just thought, you know... |
| 0:34.6 | Always risky move. |
| 0:36.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:38.0 | Parliament hasn't quite reached the 21st century with its, |
| 0:40.7 | with its Wi-Fi, has it? Yeah. But we wanted to, |
| 0:44.5 | I know this, this is a, this is a profile, brilliant profile, |
| 0:47.5 | great interview that's been covered widely since it came out. But we wanted, |
| 0:52.4 | we haven't actually had a chat about it explicitly on |
| 0:55.3 | the podcast. So I just wanted to talk to you because I think a lot of our listeners who have felt |
| 0:59.1 | disillusioned with Labour, who are curious about the Greens, would like to know your impressions |
| 1:03.9 | of this man who has really changed sort of the Green Party's standing in the public imagination |
| 1:09.9 | since he was elected leader. |
| 1:12.3 | You went to spend time with him. He was addressing campaigners when you met him. |
| 1:17.3 | How would you describe him? What was he like? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Statesman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The New Statesman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.