Greens internal drama warms up

[fromorbit]

New long article looking at the drama inside the Greens over biology suddenly existing again despite their best efforts.

How the Green Party forgot the environment and was torn apart by trans rows
It was a party united by a single mission – to save the planet. But now the gender identity debate has left it divided and in chaos

https://archive.is/TOlNx

The article is already out of date as Zack Polanski of hypnotic breasts fame has just launched a leadership bid against Deyner and Ramsey.

Emma Bateman
It's no secret that big boobs Polanski wants the top job. He is a student politics slogan churner, a self server who distains women and wants misgendering misdemeanours to be grounds for expulsion from the Greens.
He is "LGB with the T"
Still NO DEBATE!

Pro-women Greens article on his background:;
https://concernedgreens.uk/watchlist/zack-polanski/

The existence of biology is likely to be a significant part of the leadership contest for sure so interesting to watch .

Ali Shahrar has launched another legal challenge against the Greens. Gardening needed.

May 27th is the date for Emma Bateman's legal hearing against the Greens.

On May 27th I am in court against Green Party in a case which will expose the contorted lengths the Greens go to in order to shut women up.

It isn't going to go well for the Greens given the Supreme Court ruling. This could be key moment in seeing the ruling's effect on politics and directly impact the leadership contest. It will also be probably be infuriating and hilarious in equal measure.

@SionnachRuadh He's a fluent talker all right. Most of what I'm getting is that the "populism" is a stylistic thing i.e. the GP is going on the attack and having a big megaphone. There's less emphasis on having actually popular policies.

That sounds about right. He's hoping he can make a big splash and get his next gig/win lots of Westminster seats on the basis of vibes and that having coherent, vaguely credible policies - never mind actually implementing them successfully at local or regional level - won't be relevant. That would fit with what @fromorbit said about him coming unstuck over labelling Farage a fascist. Fascism has become one of those words that's used as an emotional signal, rather than because it provides any information about whatever it is being attached to.

To be fair to Hypnoboobs, unless you expect to form the next government there's sod all point in bothering more about policies if nobody knows what they are because you struggle for media coverage and most of your voters don't really care what you stand for anyway. I wonder how many voters could describe a single LD policy?

Well the LDs run on vibes too, mostly. David McGrogan, whose excellent substack I linked to above, has a nice line where he analogises the Lib Dems to an amoeba floating in pond scum - no conscious direction, but a well developed predatory instinct if its tendrils sense something nutritious.

Ed Davey in the past dozen years has been a hardline neoliberal privatising Royal Mail, a hardline opponent of Brexit, a hardline net zero environmentalist, he stood last year on a platform of being the party of carers (to be fair he has a disabled son, so that's not totally cynical), and now he's the most hardline opponent of Nigel Farage and all his works and pomps. There's little consistent there except the adoption of whatever persona vibes well with people who listen to The Rest Is Politics.

You can't blame him, really. The Liberals have always been a rum party, and if he has a modest run of good luck he could be Leader of the Opposition in 2029.

he analogises the Lib Dems to an amoeba floating in pond scum - no conscious direction, but a well developed predatory instinct if its tendrils sense something nutritious

Perfect😂

Yes. Its utterly absurd. Toddler politics. What else are they abolishing? Police? The MoD? Cheese?

🤣🤣🤣

Wouldn’t be surprised if the policy is already to abolish the police, but please don’t let them take our cheese.

I was chatting with a Green Party member earlier. He was waxing lyrical about the increase in members, and I tentatively suggested they might not be members who were very, well, Green, but he didn’t really seem to care much. Maybe I’m just old and cynical and will be proved wrong….

As Liz Truss said, it's a DISGRACE that we import 2 thirds of our cheese 🧀

Hypnoboobs now is aimining to prevent biology knowers from standing as Green MPs.

Emma Bateman

ZackPolanski highlighting that TheGreenParty is actively anti-women.
How about being actively anti-sexist, Zack?
But you would have to recognise sex and sexism for that.
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/10/06/green-party-leader-zack-polanski-to-run-for-parliament-as-party-rides-a-new-green-wave/

Speaking in the third person, Polanski added: “I’m also really keen that this is not about Zack getting elected in London. Zack is in a group of MPs who are going to be the first MPs elected in London.”

Maybe it's just me but isn't it a bit weird to talk about yourself in the third person? It rather reinforces the impression that he is an actor playing a role.

Hypnoboobs now is aimining to prevent biology knowers from standing as Green MPs.
This isn't new. Alison Teal, who'd been selected as PPC for Sheffield Central, was suspended for some very mild remarks about sex-based rights. After lots of boring internal shenanigans they were able to dump her as a candidate when the GE was called. The issue split Shef GP in half and all those who supported Teal have been exiled.

The more attention Zak draws to the greens and himself, trying to make the greens a viable alternative, the more sunlight will be shine on the Party's anti women stance. What plays well in The Guardian and the members is not what plays well in the country otherwise Corbynite labour with its hundreds of thousands of members would have been elected

It's an annoying tic that's been associated with historic figures like Julius Caesar, Arthur Scargill and Mr T.

I don't think Zack is quite on their level yet.

I'll be very interested to see whether trans-identifying candidates bleed votes that their party would otherwise expect to gain, come the next GE. The Greens will have a whole bunch of them and their trans identity won't deter GPEW's current target audience at all, but they need more than that c.15% of the electorate to win in most seats.

Curiously, Hypnoboobs's language on these touchstone issues isn't designed to persuade, he's just using them as a litmus test of whether a person is fit to be admitted to the Omnicause tribe. An election campaign is supposed to be an exercise in persuasion; ZP seems to prefer to use his airtime to lay down political purity laws rather than win new converts. Telling potential Green voters that if they don't fall into line on his pet issues they're not welcome in his 'Green' tent isn't going to win new voters.

Does he care? He seems quite focused on the omnicause vote.

I keep seeing Zack videos popping up on Twitter and elsewhere - fair play to him he’s putting the hours in and they are going all out on the PR. But I find him soooooooooooooo irritating! He is beyond smug, so cheesy and patronising and just gah, and that’s aside from the genderwoo. Is this what people really like in a politician? How are they not seeing what I’m seeing, a patronising posho with his misogyny hanging out? (Still I guess a similar demographic went mad for Corbyn so same old same old,,,)

@WhatterySquash It's a good time to become a 'low-information voter.' That's my plan.

Polanski's claim that The Billionaires earn more in 1 night than the entire population of Bournemouth (where the conference was held) in a year was fact checked this morning on More or Less. It's Not The Case.

Tellingly in the clip of his speech mentioning it, he starts with what sounds like a multi level marketing pitch. "People could make more money than they can ever dream of..." Again it reminds of the hypnotist stage craft

Thats what I mean, I'm just baffled that anyone finds this man persuasive.

Former Your Party acolytes are Allll About Him now, just like they used to be with Corbyn. And are even claiming that the Mainstream Media 🙄are misrepresenting him because He's Such A Challenge To The Establishment.

People want someone to believe in. The guardian was reporting that in the US, progressives actually filter out potential dates who don't also venerate Zohran Mamdani

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jul/21/dating-apps-politics-liberal-progressive

I agree there is definitely a voting block who see him as representing their interests and ideals in a way most other politicians don’t.

ZP clearly has some charisma and good skills at putting his point across.

As he himself says the correct comparison is with Nigel Farage.

The difference is Farage has now broken through previous restrictions on his appeal because the terms of debate have changed due to the recent surge in immigration under the Tories.

For ZP things are more difficult. He is a champion of biology denial a policy increasingly unpopular. His focus on the war in Gaza may also now backfire as it looks like peace may [hopefully] come because of Trump. Looking daft in other areas then undermines everything else he says.

Interesting article in the Scottish Greens thread comparing Hypno popularity to the Scottish Greens current stasis:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5313420-scottish-greens-being-sexist-again?page=9&

I think his other problem is that 'green' policies involve compromise and it's not at all clear that the party agree on where to compromise. Solar and wind power aren't pretty and there is no way to derive power from any source without having a negative impact on some part of the environment. Already there is disagreement within the party on things like pylons.

Thorough article from Julie Bindel

https://unherd.com/2025/10/the-green-partys-war-on-women/

Is Emma Bateman taking legal action?

Very very good article covering the entire story. Hopefully it gets shared a lot.

Emma is in court sometime soon waiting for a date. It was postponed from May

Green Women's Declaration

Read this fantastic deep dive article from bindelj

So shocking to read all our stories woven together in this comprehensive history -
TheGreenParty has utterly betrayed women.