Polanski denies he has a ‘first preference’ for Labour leader

As Rose Cocker reported for the Canary on 9 January, Zack Polanski has said he’d be open to a pact with the Labour Party. There would be conditions to this Reform-stopping pact, however, with the main one being that Labour would have to flush the hated floater that is Keir Starmer.

Since his interview, various people have voiced their opinions about a potential Green-Labour alliance, including John Rentoul of the Independent:

I've literally never said I have a preference for who the Labour leader is – never mind "first preference."

In fact – I've repeatedly said it's not my role and I'm concentrating on growing the Green Party.https://t.co/0qbagSvIYp https://t.co/fKM8aEgySK

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 10, 2026

The Polanski preferences

Whether we like to admit or not, we all have preferences. Personally, we prefer to not trust the editorial opinion of the Independent given that they threw their weight behind a second Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2015.

As you can immediately clock in the snippet above, Rentoul is engaging in the sort of fantasy politics that’s best reserved for Spitting Image:

What is he going to do if Starmer, by some miracle, is still leader at the next election, and Green MPs have to decide whether to vote to keep him as prime minister or to put Farage in No 10? “You are just as bad as each other, so we will allow Farage to go to the palace”? I don’t think so.

There is no version of reality in which Starmer is still in power at the next election (not without the result being a total Labour wipeout, anyway). Polanski could drop to his knees and beg us to vote for Starmer; it wouldn’t help; it would simply make us not vote for Polanski.

This line of thought demonstrates how lacking the centre is. The best they can offer is ‘it’s this or something slightly worse‘, and this is key to why Labour are facing extinction.

It’s not the only reason, of course:

How quickly did "abolish leasehold" become work with managing agents and insurance companies to "reform?"

Labour constantly showing where their loyalties lie – and it's definitely not with the people. https://t.co/fZhL5Ypizz

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 9, 2026

As many have noted, there is no bottom for Starmer, because the man has no base of support. On top of this, the Labour leader has shown himself to be one of the most duplicitous men in politics, and unlike Boris Johnson, he doesn’t have the charisma to sort of make that work for a bit.

“His brand is irrecoverable.”

The Labour Party should be worried because Sir Keir Starmer's unpopularity “has no floor”, unlike former Labour leaders like Jeremy Corbyn who have a loyal base of support, pollster @Scarlett__Mag says pic.twitter.com/C8AUaWz4FZ

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) November 13, 2025

He could get away with some of this if he was making people’s lives better, but he isn’t.

At best, Starmer’s policy platform will simply prevent things getting worse as quickly as they would under the Tories.

Some policies might bring improvements, but they’ll be more than counterbalanced by the steady decline which is baked in as a result of us privatising everything that wasn’t nailed down.

Criticism

It’s important to note that Polanski has also faced criticism from the left:

Polanski says Greens could join a pact with Labour.
Shame about this, I was seriously considering voting for them.https://t.co/K9XUgjdLfd

— simon maginn (@simonmaginn) January 9, 2026

Who cares who leads this rotten racket? Unless there's a 180º turnaround of all existing policies, and a blanket clear-out of all existing representatives, whoever leads it will be leading the same rotten racket.

— simon maginn (@simonmaginn) January 9, 2026

It’s absolutely correct that the problems in Labour go far deeper than Keir Starmer. Perhaps Polanski can negotiate a pact which would completely neuter the party’s worst tendencies. If he can, he possesses a degree of political intelligence we lack.

In this instance, we can’t rule out that Polanski is just doing politics. Speculating on a deal certainly gives Labour more incentive to give Starmer the boot, if only because it would make it easier to win back voters who switched to the Greens. We’re not sure how that would benefit Polanski, unless he’s a secret Manchesterist who was sent by Andy Burnham to wreak havoc:

Andy Burnham hard launches his philosophy of government.

Calls for change in economics and politics from “factional and divisive” No10 – wants to nationalise utilities, housing, transport to reduce cost of living.

“Manchesterism” = total regime change from Starmer govt 👀 https://t.co/hlFpEVYsZz

— Oli Dugmore (@OliDugmore) September 24, 2025

Of course, Polanski was just answering the questions put to him. The British media may be purposefully stupid when it suits them, but that doesn’t mean they’re clueless. They understand this is a point of contention for Polanski. As such, expect them to ask him about potential coalitions in every interview going forwards.

In future, Polanski is better off doing what he did in his latest tweet; talking about how the Green Party can win your vote rather than how Labour can win his.

Featured image via Barold / Rwendland (Wikimedia) / David Woolfall (Wikimedia)