Andy Burnham has Zack Polanski on his mind, and that’s bad for all of us (Image: Getty)
Like every leader, Andy Burnham’s at the mercy of events and the machinations of his rivals. He may be top dog in the Labour Party, and likely to remain so for as long as he can maintain his early bounce. But he can see threats all around him, and not all of them are in Westminster. In fact, the biggest isn’t in Parliament at all. Despite that, Burnham is increasingly dancing to his tune, even rewriting government policy in a bid to see him off.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is a worry, as she bosses the Commons with her impressive performances at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), but voters still haven’t forgiven the Tories for 14 years of failure. Burnham has half an eye on Reform UK, even though the donations controversy has taken some of the wind out of Nigel Farage’s sails. But by far his biggest challenge comes from a man that much of the country has written off as weird and dangerous, but who is never far from Burnham’s mind: Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
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Right now, the Greens have created a home-from-home for disgruntled left-wing activists, posing a serious threat to Burnham’s chances of going to the country and winning an election. As a result, it feels like almost every policy decision is being made with Polanski in mind.
The Greens are a clear and present danger because on October 8, Polanski will contest the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, triggered by former Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer standing down as an MP. This is Polanski’s chance to get into Parliament.
Labour is still odds-on to win the seat, but the Greens have seen a surge in support from punters. Burnham isn’t taking any chances, even if it means bending government policy to suit party political purposes. Which shows that despite his grand talk of uniting the country around a “common purpose and positivity”, he’s prepared to get down and dirty when it matters.
This explains why Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband made a big deal of announcing sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Under Starmer, Labour lost much of its traditional Muslim vote, because he wasn’t seen as being tough enough on Israel. Burnham wants it back. Even if it means winning praise from Hamas and slapping a regional ally in the face, one whose intelligence agencies have helped stop Islamist attacks in this country.
Labour also risked riling US President Donald Trump, while prominent Republicans have threatened retaliatory measures against Britain. That’s a chance Burnham is willing to take if it helps bring Muslim voters back into the Labour fold. Polanski helped drive that decision too.
And that’s just for starters. It was widely assumed that Burnham would give the go-ahead for North Sea drilling, by approving the Jackdaw gas field and potentially allowing the Rosebank oil to proceed. Miliband was dragging his feet, despite growing fury from the unions, but Burnham was supposed to be taking a more “pragmatic” approach.
The sooner he greenlights Jackdaw the better. That way, home-produced gas could eventually flow into British homes this winter, helping to strengthen domestic energy security as a winter crisis looms. But that would enrage eco-activists after the sweltering summer we’ve just had, and be a gift to the Greens. The assumption is that Burnham will still do it, but only after the by-election is safely in the bag. Again, Polanski appears to be influencing the timing of policy.
Burnham is now terrified of doing anything that may gift votes to the Greens. That may also explain why Chancellor John Healey has deferred setting a date for reaching 3% of GDP on defence until next year, despite the growing threat from Vladimir Putin and the widening war in Iran. It may also explain the PM’s astonishing claim during PMQs on September 9 that “national security can’t come at the expense of social security”. There’s no question which is the priority for the left.
So is Burnham governing for Britain, or fighting to save Labour from the Greens? The answer seems pretty clear. Even if Zack Polanski doesn’t make it into Parliament next month, he’s still driving government policy from the sidelines. And if Burnham goes for a snap election, as many now suspect, he will keep bending the knee to Polanski to grab as much of the Green vote as he possibly can. And to hell with the national interest.
Meet the man who terrifies Andy Burnham – and is really running the UK today
Andy Burnham has been Prime Minister for only a little over two months, but one political figure outside his government has already become a recurring source of pressure: Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
A recent commentary described Polanski as the man who “terrifies” Burnham and suggested that government decisions are increasingly being shaped around the Green Party leader. That is an interpretation rather than an established fact. Nevertheless, Polanski has emerged as one of the most visible figures challenging Labour from the left, and the timing of his campaign for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election has made the contest particularly significant for Burnham’s government.
Burnham is currently the UK’s Prime Minister and Labour leader, having entered Downing Street on 20 July 2026. The government has already moved on several issues that are likely to define its first months, including household costs, energy policy, housing, public services and Britain’s relationship with Europe.
But Polanski represents a different kind of political challenge.
Rather than attempting to replace Labour from the political centre or right, the Green leader is seeking to persuade voters who traditionally supported Labour that the party has not gone far enough on wealth inequality, housing, climate policy and public ownership.
That makes the upcoming Holborn and St Pancras by-election an unusually important political confrontation.
Who is Zack Polanski?
Polanski became leader of the Green Party in England and Wales and has increasingly sought to position the Greens as a national alternative for voters dissatisfied with Labour’s direction.
The Green Party lists him as its current leader, alongside its national executive.
His political message is built around several themes: stronger action on the cost of living, rent controls, greater public ownership, wealth taxation, climate policy and electoral reform.
When Burnham became prime minister in July, Polanski did not simply attack the new government. He said the Greens wished the new prime minister well, but argued that Burnham needed to address what he described as affordability, inequality and climate crises.
That combination of criticism and competition has become a defining feature of the relationship.
Polanski does not need to control the government to influence the political debate. His strategy is instead to make Labour answer questions about whether it is sufficiently ambitious on the issues that matter to Green voters.
And one of his biggest opportunities has arrived in London.
The by-election that has put Polanski centre stage
The Holborn and St Pancras by-election is scheduled for 8 October, following Keir Starmer’s departure from the parliamentary seat.
Polanski was selected by local Green Party members on 10 September and confirmed as the party’s candidate the following day. The party says he lived and worked in the constituency for much of the previous 20 years.
Labour has selected Sagal Abdi-Wali, leader of Camden Council, as its candidate.
The contest therefore pits the new Labour government against the leader of a party that has been attempting to expand its influence among disillusioned Labour voters.
Polanski has explicitly connected the by-election with national policy. In his acceptance speech, he said the Greens wanted to put pressure on Labour over bills, affordable housing, rent controls, wealth inequality and North Sea drilling.
He has also made the proposed Jackdaw gasfield a central issue.
The Guardian reported that Polanski had been discussing the issue with voters on the doorstep and intended to make climate policy a major part of his campaign.
This is significant because energy policy presents Burnham with competing political pressures.
North Sea drilling becomes a political fault line
Burnham’s government is facing questions over whether to approve further North Sea oil and gas development while maintaining Britain’s commitment to net zero.
For the Greens, the issue is relatively straightforward: they oppose additional fossil-fuel development and want greater investment in renewable energy.
For Labour, the political calculation is more complicated.
The government must balance climate commitments against energy security, household bills, industrial concerns and pressure from different sections of its support base.
Polanski has attempted to turn that tension into a direct political challenge.
His argument is that approving new drilling would demonstrate that Labour has not broken sufficiently with previous approaches to energy policy. The government, meanwhile, has to consider the wider economic and energy consequences of its decisions.
That does not mean Polanski personally controls government policy.
It does mean that his political presence can increase the cost of certain decisions for Labour.
The housing battle
Housing is another area where Polanski has attempted to differentiate the Greens from Burnham’s Labour government.
The Green leader has repeatedly called for rent controls and substantially more affordable housing.
In his response to Burnham’s first speech as prime minister, Polanski argued that Labour needed stronger action on rents and public ownership.
Burnham has made the cost of living a major part of his political message, but the government’s approach is not identical to the Greens’.
That difference matters because housing has become one of the defining economic pressures facing many younger voters, particularly in London.
A Labour government seeking to regain support among voters who have moved towards the Greens therefore faces a difficult balancing act: it must demonstrate that it is responding to housing costs without necessarily adopting every Green proposal.
Polanski’s role is to keep reminding voters of that distinction.
Why Holborn and St Pancras matters to Burnham
The constituency has historically been strongly Labour.
At the 2024 general election, Starmer won the seat with 18,884 votes, while the Greens received 4,030. The Labour majority was 11,572.
Those figures provide important historical context.
A Green challenge in such a constituency is therefore not simply a normal opposition campaign. Polanski is attempting to demonstrate that the Greens can convert increased support into a direct parliamentary challenge to Labour.
That is why Labour figures are paying attention.
The Independent reported that some Labour sources viewed the contest as a test of whether Burnham’s leadership had reduced the threat posed by the Greens. However, the same report stressed that Downing Street had previously ruled out an early general election.
That distinction is important.
A by-election can provide political information without becoming a direct referendum on the national government.
And Burnham himself has now been particularly clear about the issue of an early election.
Burnham has rejected snap-election speculation
On 25 September, Burnham explicitly attempted to end speculation that he might call a snap general election.
He said: “All this speculation of an early election, I can knock that dead.”
The Guardian reported that the prime minister had repeatedly ruled out an election before 2029 after speculation that an improvement in Labour’s political position could tempt him into going to the country early.
That makes the Holborn and St Pancras contest important for a different reason.
It is not officially a stepping stone to an immediate general election.
Instead, it is one measure of the political environment Burnham inherited and the difficulties Labour faces on its left flank.
Is Polanski really “running Britain”?
There is no evidence that Zack Polanski is literally running the UK.
The constitutional position is clear: Burnham is prime minister and therefore leads the government and is ultimately responsible for government policy and decisions.
But political influence is more complicated than formal authority.
A party leader can influence another party by changing the political incentives surrounding particular decisions.
That is the strongest version of the argument behind the dramatic headline.
If Labour believes that some of its voters could move to the Greens, Green policies and campaigns can become politically relevant even when the Greens hold relatively few parliamentary seats.
Polanski’s campaign on North Sea drilling is one example. His demands over rent controls and wealth taxation are others.
Whether these pressures actually change government policy is something that can only be established by looking at decisions as they are made.
The bigger challenge for Burnham
The bigger issue for Burnham is not simply Zack Polanski.
It is the fragmentation of the political landscape.
Labour faces pressure from the Greens on the left, Reform UK on the right and Conservatives seeking to rebuild their position. Different groups of voters are now making decisions based on different combinations of economic, cultural and regional concerns.
Burnham’s early strategy has therefore involved attempting to broaden Labour’s appeal while delivering visible measures on household costs.
The Guardian reported that early measures such as the bus fare cap and VAT changes to household electricity bills had attracted considerable public attention, while research for More in Common suggested cost-of-living concerns remained central to voters.
The government’s first major Budget on 28 October will provide another important test of its economic programme.
And that is where the political pressure becomes particularly complicated.
A policy designed to appeal to Green voters could alienate other Labour supporters. A policy designed to reassure businesses could frustrate voters demanding greater redistribution. A tougher approach to climate policy could create tension with environmentalists, while a faster transition could create concerns about energy costs.
Polanski’s importance lies partly in his ability to expose those contradictions.
A pressure point, not a prime minister
The claim that Polanski is “really running the UK” is best understood as political rhetoric rather than a description of Britain’s constitutional reality.
Burnham remains the person responsible for government decisions.
Polanski, however, has established himself as a prominent political challenger whose campaign is forcing Labour to confront questions about how far it is prepared to go on housing, climate policy, inequality and public ownership.
The Holborn and St Pancras by-election will provide a closely watched test of that challenge on 8 October.
Whatever happens there, the underlying political question will remain.
Can Burnham build a Labour government that attracts voters who are considering the Greens without adopting the Greens’ entire programme?
And can Polanski maintain pressure on Labour without holding the formal power to implement the policies he advocates?
Those questions are likely to matter far beyond one London constituency.
For now, the evidence does not show Zack Polanski running Britain.
It does show that he has become a political force Burnham cannot simply ignore.