Afternoon summary
David Lammy, the deputy PM, was heckled and booed by some of the crowd as he addressed a vigil close to the scene of the Manchester synagogue attack. As Donna Ferguson reports on our Manchester synagogue attack live blog, after Lammy took to the stage he faced calls of “shame on you”, “go to Palestine, leave us alone”, “you’ve allowed it to grow on the campuses” and “you have blood on your hands”.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Polanski argues for peace through diplomacy, saying he does not agree 'strength comes from might'
In his Radio 5 Live interview Zack Polanski was asked how the Greens would defend the UK given his support for leaving Nato.
He said he was not arguing for leaving Nato “right now”. His argument was that under Donald Trump the US was not a reliable partner, and so it was time for UK to work with its European neighbours on security.
Matt Chorley put it to him that, without relying on the US, and without having a nuclear deterrent, Britain would not be able to stop Russia invading European countries.
Polanski replied:
That’s why we have to start from first principles. And I think the first principle is looking how do we build peace and diplomacy in the world.
I just disagree with Keir Starmer that strength comes from might. That’s actually how you have an arms race. And we’ve been dangerously close in this country and in the world before to literally complete annihilation and utter destruction.
So I think the first place to start, from first principles is, how do we de-escalate? How do we neutralise existing threats and threats that are growing quicker? And I think we do that through dialogue.
Polanski cited the ANC in South Africa, the civil rights movement in the US, and the peace process in Northern Ireland as examples of how “sworn enemies” could make peace.
Polanski says he would push for wealth tax, climate action and PR if Greens held balance of power after election
According to the YouGov polling of Green party members out today, a slim majority of party members would support a coalition with Labour. Three quarters of them would support a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
In an interview with Matt Chorley on Radio 5 Live, Zack Polanski said that if the Greens were to hold the balance of power after a future election, he would be “looking for wealth tax, action on climate and proportional representation”.
The Conservative party has issued this response to Michelle Mone writing to Kemi Badenoch saying she has no wish to return to the House of Lords as a Tory peer. (See 3.33pm.) A Conservative spokesperson said:
Baroness Mone has not been in receipt of the Conservative whip since she took a leave of absence from the House of Lords, and she is not a Conservative party member.
Baroness Mone was formally written to yesterday by the Lords chief whip, and informed that she would not receive the Conservative whip were she ever to return.
Under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, the Conservative party expects parliamentarians to maintain the highest standards, and on this Baroness Mone has fallen well short.
Luke Tryl, a polling expert and More in Common UK director, has posted a thread on Bluesky with some thoughts on Zack Polanski’s speech. His comments are here, but you will need to read the thread to see all the charts he has included.
Thoughts on Polanski speech: his pledge to “end rip off Britain” is closest to chiming with public mood on the cost of living of leaders speeches yet. The sense essentials, let alone treats are unaffordable & govt is unable/unwilling to tackle it epitomises broken Britain mood
It’s also a message that resonates squarely with Polanski’s own voters, Green voters along with Reform UK voters are the most likely to think we need to let our institutions ‘burn’ and also the least likely to think that higher GDP growth benefits people like them
Clearly his pitch is the ‘anti-system left’ designed to win support to Labour’s left - and it’s pretty striking that when you look at the current VI of Green Party voters, a plurality are those who voted for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in 2019.
Green supporters are younger than voters as a whole, and more female. They are particularly likely to be animated by climate (unsurprisingly) and housing compared to the wider public.
The idea of a wealth tax is popular across the board, though it is worth stressing this is highly hypothetical and as with Digital ID, when the debate became real with winners/losers and cost/benefit estimates this could shift significantly.
Risks of Polanski’s approach? His embrace of a much more open immigration policy isn’t backed by most voters - even green voters are more likely to say reduce than increase (though by a smaller margin). That said there clearly is a more pro-migration minority he could speak to.
There’s also a question whether the eco-populism pitch deters those who were voting green for the eco bit. On balance I think the Green’s future lies in challenging Labour to the left, but it might make it harder to hold e.g. the two rural seats they won in 2024.
But they obviously face competition in that space on the left - voters are much more likely to say ‘Your party’ or the Liberal Democrats are a bigger threat to Labour on the left than the Green Party
But the Green Party have one clear advantage over Your Party - while voters split on whether they see them as a serious party (38-39) that is far higher than for Your Party 16-50 and Your Party’s splits have created a bigger opening for the Greens.
The big test for the greens is whether they can take their considerers (who make up a bigger ratio of their overall vote than any other party) and make them into voters. Polanski’s command of the attention economy feels like an important step in doing that.
'Unrestrained capitalism' biggest threat to culture and language in Wales, says Welsh Green leader
Andrew Slaughter, the Green party’s leader in Wales, is speaking at the conference now.
He says Labour promised change at the last election, but the defining emotion people feel now is fear, he says.
After promising change, this Labour government has snuffed out every hope people had for it. People were desperate for that hope when they voted last year. But Labour lied.
I meet diehard Labour voters every day who tell me, never again. A common refrain is that what this government is doing is even worse than the Tories. Their longtime voters can see this clearly now, and they are rightly furious.
Slaughter says the Greens should be taking on “the corporations and the billionaires that are robbing us blind”.
We always thought the Tories were ones who shovelled public money into the hands of the rich, but Labour wanted to be even bigger corporate sycophants.
Slaughter says “unrestrained capitalism” is the greatest threat to language and culture in Wales.
The brutal logic of austerity has decimated our social fabric across the board, but it’s also undermining the very foundations of who we are.
But unrestrained capitalism is the same hostile force that working people have fought for centuries.
Slaughter says he has seen this in the housing sector, and that is why the Greens will fight for renters’ rights.
Labour claims Polanski's speech shows he is sowing 'division and grievance'
The Labour party has put out this response to the Zack Polanski speech from a Labour spokesperson.
It is no surprise that Zack Polanski, a man who said he wanted to learn from Nigel Farage, has done so in his speech today – using his platform to sow division and grievance.
Labour firmly chooses the path of national renewal. Only our Labour government is driving forward the change working people voted for, to renew our country, keep Britain safe, and make sure people across all corners of the UK feel better off.
This is interesting because it shows that Labour does not a strong line of attack against Polanski – or, at least, not one that it is willing to use in public. Polanski was critical of his opponents in his speech, but it did not stir up “grievance” any more than Keir Starmer’s did. (Like Polanski, Starmer talked about people being let down by the prevailing economic model.) Polanski did criticise the wealthiest 1% for not paying their fair share, but not in a way that went beyond the class war rhetoric that is fairly normal at a Labour conference.
In its news release, Labour also highlighted four areas where it thinks Polanski’s record is problematic. For the record, I will post them here.
NATO – Zack Polanski wants to take the UK out of NATO, declaring that “the age of NATO is now over”. Polanski told Byline Times that “I think our NATO policy is out of date…the idea that we can reform NATO…is an idea that’s on its last legs”.
Comments on Nigel Farage – Zack Polanski wants to learn from Nigel Farage. He said that the Green Party should learn from the Reform leader, arguing that Farage “tells a really powerful story…I do think we’ve got to learn from that”. He previously suggested that the Greens should deploy “clickbait”.
Breast enlargement by hypnosis - Polanski once offered hypnosis sessions to a journalist and suggested he could enlarge her breasts. Polanski has since claimed that this “does not represent my work…does not represent me.” However, at the time Polanski appeared to praise the possibilities of hypnosis, telling a Sun journalist that “this is an extremely new approach, but I can see it becoming popular very quickly, because it’s so safe and a lot cheaper than a boob job”.
Comments about natural birth – The Green Party previously criticized life-saving medical interventions for women in childbirth, stating that “we will work to reduce the number of interventions in childbirth” expressing particular concern about ‘the rate of caesarean sections, which are expensive and, when not medically required, risky’. Polanski told Sky News that despite the policy not appearing in the Green Party manifesto, “it’s not that we have changed our minds”, suggesting that an anti C-section approach remains Party policy.
YouGov has just published some polling on the views of Green party members. It is based on a survey of 508 members carried out in August. There aren’t many polls about the views of Green party members because polling such a small group is not easy.
The poll suggests that in August Carla Denyer, who stood down as co-leader, was even more popular with members than Zack Polanski.
It also suggests that, even though Polanski did not mention the environment much in his speech, members view it, by a wide margin, as the most important issue facing the country.
Michelle Mone says she has ‘no wish’ to remain a Conservative peer
Michelle Mone has said she has “no wish” to return to the House of Lords as a Conservative peer after a company linked to her was ordered to repay millions of pounds for breaching a Covid-19 PPE contract, Eleni Courea reports.
And these are from my colleague Peter Walker, who was listening to Zack Polanski’s speech in the conference hall in Bournemouth.
Polanski did describe himself (sort of) as an “eco populist”, but he’s a curious sort of populist - quite gentle, without the very obvious ego and brazen public front you’d normally associate with the idea. But he’s a very good public speaker.
He has just described how his ancestors arrived in England from Latvia via Ukraine and Poland, fleeing pogroms but still facing antisemitism in the UK. Polanski explains how he thus changed his surname back from the anglicised “Paulden” they adopted.
That speech was quite light on specific Green policies but it’s clear that Polanski is a *much* more effective public speaker than Starmer, Badenoch or Davey, & possibly on a par (albeit v differently) to Farage. It’s no wonder Labour are privately pretty worried about possible losses to the Greens.
Zack Polanski's speech to Green conference - snap verdict
Zack Polanski was elected Green leader, with 85% of the vote on what was (by Green standards) a much higher than usual turnout, because members believed he could turbo-charge the party’s communications. Being more leftwing was undoubtedly a factor too, but mainly Polanski won because, in attention economy dominated by populists, he argued that he could get a hearing for the party, and members believed him. In truth, before today he had already shown he could deliver as a performer, but this speech showed that, in this, the judgment of Green members was sound.
This was not a profound speech, but it was a good one, with clear messages, nice anecdotes and emotional depth. Think Corbynism, but without any of the bad bits (principally, all the baggage from 40 years of leftwing factionalism). Earlier this year, when Zarah Sultana announced that she and Jeremy Corbyn were setting up a new leftwing party, there was a lot of media speculation about how it might gobble up the Green party vote. On the basis of this speech, it would seem more sensible to speculate about Polanski gobbling up theirs.
Polanski did not have anything new to say in terms of policy. The Greens take their internal party democracy very seriously, and leaders are not allowed to announce policy off the cuff, as happens with Labour and the Tories. Polanski was a Liberal Democrat before he was a Green and his reference to environmental issues did not really go beyond tokenism. (See 2.14pm.) On the economy in general, quite a lot of what he said (on austerity and privatisation – see 1.55pm) could have come out of an Andy Burnham speech.
Mostly, though, he was selling a wealth tax. While his language was at times harsh (and inexact – the political class has not been “poisoned” by extreme wealth, because if they had been poisoned they would be dead – he should have said “corrupted” by extreme wealth), his tone was gentle and inclusive, which made him more persuasive.
He mocked Keir Starmer for his comments about a wealth tax at the Labour conference. (See 1.59am.) In fact, Starmer is more right than wrong on this, because most experts think the potential gains from a stand-alone wealth tax, of the kind promised by the Green, are very limited. But the policy is exceedingly popular. At the last election the Greens were proposing a wealth tax levied at 1% annually on assets above £10m (plus a 2% rate on assets above £1bn). Here is some YouGov polling from earlier this year on a 2% wealth tax on assets above £10m.
Two of the Green MPs – Adrian Ramsay in Waveney Valley and Ellie Chowns in North Herefordshire – won their seats from Conservatives, and they are understandably nervous about this sort of pitch. But the audience at the Green party today seemed to love it.
Updated
Polanski says Britain at its best when it's 'thoughtful, considerate, kind'
Polanski ends with a story about a visit to a bakery that employs ex-offenders.
I want to end on a tiny moment, a small gesture but it’s something that’s really stuck with me in this month. I went to visit the Dusty Knuckle near where I live in Hackney.
It’s a bakery that employs people who have just come out of prison. Mentors go to visit people just before they leave and smooth over a transition process to a fresh start in life. It was an amazing visit where I was humbled to spend time talking to so many different people each with their own different story.
The one that struck me though was a man who said it was his first day out of prison. He arrived - terrified of this new life. He was a little late because it had been years since he’d used public transport and there was a cup of tea waiting for him. Someone knowing he was going to be late - had made the time to make a stranger a cup of tea. A simple act of kindness from one stranger to another.That’s what this country is when it’s at it’s best. And that matters today of all days. It’s thoughtful, it’s considerate and it’s kind.
This May is huge - hateful, divisive politics is on the ballot paper. We can and must reject that.Let’s instead look after each other. The Green party’s moment is now. Let’s go.
And that’s it.
Polanski is now talking about his boyfriend, Richie, who works in palliative care.
Caring for people, working for the public - showing kindness and compassion. That’s the most patriotic thing I could possibly ever imagine.
As well as thanking Richie, he thanks everyone in the party for what they do.
Look at next year alone and get ready for some bold politics.
We’re fighting to win our first ever directly elected mayor in Hackney.
We’re campaigning to win more seats in more places than ever before.
And we are on the cusp of winning our first ever seats on the Senedd.
In many areas, the party is ready to win.
Polanski says Greens can't be effective environmentalists without talking about inequality
Polanski turns to the climate.
He says he is often asked if the Green party is an environmental movement or a social justice movement.
As if you can’t speak up for our working class or LGBT+ communities at the same time as challenging fossil fuel companies. Let’s clear this up. You can’t be an effective environmentalist without talking about the deep inequality in our society.
The climate crisis is also the cost of living crisis and will hit the poorest communities hardest. Food inflation is made worse by climate breakdown.We live in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world - and we have just had the hottest summer on record.
Labour made a pledge for £28bn on Green investment before the election. They ditched it before they even got a sniff of power.
Updated
And Polanski goes on to attack Labour for its record on civil rights.
This country has a proud tradition of protecting civil liberties - but once again a Labour government is cracking down on our rights.
From terrorist proscription against protesters
To banning journalists from their conference
To diving into a rushed evidence-free plan for digital IDs that are likely to discriminate against minorities
The alarm bells of authoritarianism are now ringing.
And it’s down to us, the Green party, to take a stand and say that our rights and our liberties are not negotiable, and we will do everything in our power to protect both our privacy and defend our juries.
Polanski says Starmer's decision to recognise Palestinian statehood 'deeply cynical'
Polanski turns to Gaza, and he condemns the motives behind Keir Starmer recognising the state of Palestine.
When mass slaughter is happening In Palestine. We will not be silent. When governments try to silence dissent. We will not be silent.
And when Keir Starmer - in one of the most deeply cynical and morbid acts I’ve seen in my lifetime - decides to recognise a palestinian state at the same moment that his government is an active participant in the murdering of the Palestinians, then we must never be silent.Let it be heard across our country but a call that is now echoing around the world.
We must stop selling arms to Israel.
We must stop sharing intelligence.
We must do everything we can to stop the genocide.
Polanski says Greens want to stop small boats by having safe and legal routes for asylum seekers
Polanski says the Green party would stop the boats by setting up safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. Referring to a conversation in Clacton, he says:
We talked a little. We found common ground on some things - and other things there’s still clearly work to do. I told him how the Green Party wanted to stop the small boats too. But we want to stop them through safe and legal routes.
'We'll say it loud, say it clear, migrants and refugees welcome here,' says Polanski
Polanski turns to Labour.
The prime minister might call this an Island of strangers. When Farage says jump, Labour might say ‘how high’.
But the Greens won’t dance to the tune of a Trump-loving, tax-avoiding, science-denying, NHS-dismantling corporate stooge.
He is referring to Nigel Farage, of course. This gets the longest and loudest applause of the speech so far.
Polanski tells members to stay on their feet, because they will want to applaud his next line.
We will say it loud, and we will say it clear, migrants and refugees are “welcome here”.
Polanski is now referring to the Manchester synagogue attack.
I’m one of five Jewish people to lead a British political party in the last 100 years. And that also means that I do want to spend a moment to mark yesterday’s awful attack.
As a Jewish man raised in north Manchester - I feel this deeply and my heart is with the community.
More widely I am the product of migration. It’s why defending migrants matters so much to me. It’s a common Jewish experience - a tale as old as time.
Now my Jewish ancestry is confusing and muddled because we’ve always been on the run but from what I can gather together, they started in a Jewish town in Lativa - fled from Pogroms - to Ukraine - more pogroms - Poland - Nazis - to England where they faced their challenges from antisemitism.
They changed their name to sound more English - and I changed it back, knowing that real pride comes from no longer hiding who you are.
He is now talking about the co-deputy leaders of the party (elected on the same day he was elected).
Mothin [Ali], son of a steelworker, whose parents came from what is now Bangladesh in the 60s.
Rachel [Millward] who, apart from a Danish great grandad and a Welsh Grandma, has family roots tied to England as far back as she knows.
One brought up Jewish. One raised Muslim. One a child of the Church.
A leadership with three different backstories, in a country enriched by people from all over the world.
Polanski is now making his argument about immigration. (See 10.21am.)
Polanski says Greens would introduce wealth tax for richest 1%
Polanski is now setting out the case for a wealth tax.
Keir Starmer said in his speech don’t believe those who say a wealth tax is the answer to everything.
I’m not sure who he’s listening to but I’m not aware anyone has ever said that.
What we’ve repeatedly said is that if you’re in hoc to vested interests and protecting the wealth of the super rich - you can’t change anything meaningfully.
Polanski says the Green’s would tax the assets of the wealthiest 1% to reduce inequality.
Updated
Polanski says the Greens must “end the failed privatisation experiment”.
We must also end the failed privatisation experiment - saving us money and stopping the money we’ve all earned lining the pockets of shareholders.
Water in public hands. Clean rivers. Cheaper bills.
And ending rip off Britain means taxing the wealthiest to make Britain a country that everyone can afford.
Polanski says 'economic model based on austerity and privatisation' to blame for Britain's problems
Polanski says on his first full day as leader he went to Clacton – not a phrase you hear often from the constituency’s MP (Nigel Farage), he jokes.
He says people there felt neglected. They need bold policies.
We’re here to turn our country around.
At every opportunity, from the doorstep to the TV Studio, our message is that the Green Party will bring down your bills, cut the cost of living and protect our NHS.
Polanski says the country’s problems pre-date Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
These issues are rooted in an economic model built on austerity and privatisation.
But this party is clear.
We will break the shackles of poverty and hardship that lock so many in.
We will end rip off Britain.
And we will make sure that the very wealthiest pay more tax.
Polanski says Britain has been failed 'by political class poisoned by extreme wealth'
Polanski says more than 22,000 people have joined the party in recent months. It is now mounting its most exciting campaign ever.
When he became leader, a journalist asked him why he was so sick. He did feel that way. So he “did that unique thing the Green party does – tell the truth”.
He was thinking of the enormity of the task ahead.
A failing government. A country where millions and millions of people are struggling to afford the basics.
The far right on the march …
This is a country with so much going for it, but we have been failed time and time again by a political class poisoned by extreme wealth.
And you can see that poison everyday.
Rough sleeping up 164% since 2010.
Where half of renters are just one pay cheque away from losing their home.
Water companies pump sewage into the water and charge us extra for the privilege.
A country where we’re all paying the cost of the selling off of our shared assets. £250 more each household each year as a privatisation premium.
A country where a tiny few have taken our power and wealth.
Things must change.
Updated
Zack Polanski stars with an anecdote about filming a party political broadcast in Leeds.
I very much enjoyed the moment where I’m talking about excess billionaire wealth and a voice pops up from over a fence and says “You won’t find any of that around here mate!”
The best moment of filming though was when we were about to finish and a young couple came over to us to ask us what we were filming for. I start to say “The Green Party broadcast” when the woman turns to her partner and says “Bloody hell. It’s Zack. We just joined the party last night!”
Now – I can’t personally promise to turn up on the doorstep of every new member that joins - but it was a very lovely moment!
Denyer says Zack Polanski has already made a difference.
Zack will take us forward through sheer hard work with his vision for a brighter, fairer future, by making politics fun again and by being that all too rare thing – an inspiring leader who gives people hope.
She says Polanskis has been nominated as one of Time Magazine’s top 100 rising stars.
Updated
Carla Denyer, the former co-leader is speaking now. She seems genuinely surprised how many people are there.
She says the Greens are “unified, focused and ready with a bold, refreshing, positive vision, ready to be the antidote to the creeping politics of hate division and managed”.
She says she and Adrian Ramsay as co-leaders took the party from having one MP to four, from having 450 councillors to having more than 850, and to winning more than 2m votes at the election.
Rigby says when he was first elected, he was the only Green councillor on the council.
Now, in an enlarged authority, the Green have six seats.
Our group still might be small, but we are punching way above our weight as a group.
Chris Rigby, a Green councillor from Bournemouth, is opening the proceedings.
He starts by saying that is he not originally from Bournemouth.
I’m not originally from here, but this is where I chose to call home for the last 15 years. And Bournemouth is truly a global town, with people moving here from all over the world …
And in the face of rising nationalism across the country, I think it’s important to say now wherever you choose to call your home is your home.
Zack Polanski to address Green party conference
Zack Polanski’s speech to the Green party conference is starting soon.
There is a live feed here.
Updated
Adrian Ramsay, who was co-leader of the Green party until Zack Polanski’s victory in the leadership contest last month, is not at the conference this year, he says.
I’m sorry to say that I’m not able to attend @TheGreenParty conference this year, as it coincides with my Dad’s funeral. I really hope everyone has a great time in Bournemouth.
Carla Denyer, his co-leader, is there. She says she has been trying on the merchandise.
Denyer stood down as a co-leader, but Ramsay stood for re-election on a joint ticket with Ellie Chowns. They were easily beaten by Polanski, who is leading the party despite the fact that (unlike Ramsay, Denyer and Chowns) he is not an MP. The Greens have a fourth MP, Siân Berry.
Here are more pictures from the Green party conference.
Robert Jenrick claims 'cowardly elite class' is to blame for allowing antisemitism to go unchallenged
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has published an article in the Daily Telegraph today about the synagogue attack in Manchester. Conservatives like Jenrick have been arguing for two years now that the regular pro-Palestine marches have contributed to growing antisemitism in the UK and he has restated that case (also made powerfully today by the chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis), in his Telegraph article.
But there is a new twist. Jenrick, whose politics are becoming increasingly populist, blames a “cowardly elite class” for allowing this to happen. He says:
For years radicalisation has gone unchallenged. It has been allowed to grow and grow by a pathetically weak and cowardly elite class. The capitulation of so many of our institutions to antisemitism have made Jewish Brits feel like second class citizens.
Our universities have allowed antisemitism to fester. We have seen Jewish students have swastikas on their doors; universities stand by antisemitic professors. The violent chant to “Globalise the intifada” has been made fashionable by left-wing students who consider antisemitism to be the one acceptable form of racism …
At times our justice system has barely given antisemitism a slap on the wrist. When people paraded through Whitehall with images glorifying the Hamas paragliders, they were let off with a conditional discharge. Tam Ikram, deputy chief magistrate and a judicial appointments commissioner, turned a blind eye and said that he “did not find that they were seeking to show any support for Hamas”.
The Conservatives, of course, were in power for 14 years until last summer, and Jenrick himself spent several years in government, including two years in cabinet.
Polanski says 'war on drugs has absolutely failed', explaining why Green party favours legalisation
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has said he thinks all drugs should be legalised.
He made the comment in an interview with Charlotte Wright, political editor of BBC South East, in which he said he agreed with a Green councillor in Kent who has advocated full legalistion (which is Green party policy).
Polanski said drugs should be treated as a public health problem because “the war on drugs has absolutely failed”. Asked about the implications for taxpayers, he told BBC South East:
Well, I think voters are having to pay right now for a crime that happens, for the fact that people are in the illegal drug markets, for gangs that we see across county lines.
All of this is a failure of the fact that, again, for far too long, prime ministers have stuck their heads in their sand and said, if we just make drugs illegal, everything’s going to be okay.
Former minister Zac Goldsmith says Tories can't be 'even halfway serious party' if they want to scrap Climate Change Act
And while we are on the subject of Zacks, another one, the former environment minister Zac Goldsmith, has joined those Tories criticised Kemi Badenoch’s decision to get rid of the Climate Change Act. In a statment to Politico’s London Playbook, he said the move was “not a mark of an even halfway serious political party”. But Goldsmith also told Politico that it did not matter much because his party was “unlikely” to be in power soon.
Stride dismisses suggestions Badenoch will be replaced next year, though he admits it might get 'bumpy'
In his FT interview Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, also dismissed speculation that Kemi Badenoch will be replaced as Tory leader within the next year. Many of her colleagues think she will face a successful leadership challenge, most probably after poor results in the Senedd, Scottish parliament and English local elections next May.
Stride said that he thought Badenoch was similar to Margaret Thatcher, who was widely criticised when she became opposition leader in 1975 but who over time developed into an effective leader. He said:
We had all this with Margaret Thatcher back in the 1970s. Her voice wasn’t right, her hair wasn’t right, her dress wasn’t right, she wasn’t very good at prime minister’s questions. It took her some time to work her way into being the finished, formidable politician she was.
Commenting on the prospect of Badenoch being replaced next year, Stride said:
She is incredibly resilient, as cool as they come. She goes away, thinks about it and comes to a decision. I’m very confident Kemi will be fine. But it’s going to be bumpy — it’s going to be difficult.
Mel Stride declines to back Badenoch's claim about Britain being at risk of needing IMF bailout
Last month Kemi Badenoch claimed there was a risk of the UK needing an IMF bailout because of the state of the public finances. In an interview with Newsnight, she said:
Labour does not have any plan for growth. They thought that as soon as they got into power, things would just work because they’re Labour and they believe in their own righteousness. That is not working - they need to get a plan to grow our economy, otherwise we will end up going to the IMF cap in hand.
Asked to justify this claim, she replied:
A lot of the indicators are pointing in that direction. Many very well respected commentators and economists are saying this.
That seemed to be a reference to a Telegraph story published a couple of weeks earlier.
Today the Financial Times has published an interview with Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, ahead of the Tory conference that starts on Sunday, and Stride took a rather different tone. Commenting on the likelihood of an IMF bailout, he said:
I think that’s very unlikely. That’s not to say we couldn’t be heading for some kind of bond crisis with runaway yields.
In his interview Stride said he would use the Tory conference to propose cutting the number of people working in the civil service from 517,000 to 384,000 – the level it was before Brexit and before Covid.
He also claimed: “Fiscal responsibility lies at the heart of today’s Conservative party.”
And he said the Tories were a party “with business in our DNA” (even though yesterday the CBI strongly crticised Badenoch’s latest policy announcement, getting rid of the Climate Change Act).
Keir Starmer has visited the scene of the synagogue attack in Manchester. We are covering that visit, and all the other updates related to that story, on a separate live blog. The attack is the subject of an ongoing police investigation and we are not allowing comments directly related to it BTL.
Polanski calls for patriotism debate going beyond 'waving flags', involving 'complicated conversations', not 'angry words'
Speaking to Sky News, Zack Polanski also said Britain needed a conversation about patriotism that goes beyond “waving flags”. He said this would involve “complicated conversations”, not “angry words”.
This country right now is having a conversation about patriotism, and I think that probably needs to be a deeper conversation than just waving flags.
I think it has to be about why do some people not feel like they belong here? Why do they feel unwelcome? And how can we make sure that everyone feels love for their community and loved from their community?
Those are complex things, particularly when there are tensions in our communities.
But we know, when we get this right, this is what’s part of what makes Britain great.
Migration, multiculturalism, is all really [an] important part of being British. It also requires work, and I think far too often the work is not done. Instead, there’s just been angry words. Angry words are not going to get us anywhere. We need unity. We need complicated conversations, and we need to bring people together rather than divide.
Polanski criticises Shabana Mahmood for saying pro-Palestine marches should have been cancelled after Manchester attack
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said this morning that the pro-Palestine marches that took place last night, in London and in Manchester, should have been cancelled in the light of the synogogue attack. She said they were “dishonourable”, and disrepectful to the Jewish community that was grieving.
The campaigners were protesting against Israel’s interception of an aid flotilla heading for Gaza, and they wanted the UK government to condemn Israel’s action.
In his Sky News interview, asked if he agreed with Mahmood, Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, said he thought she was being “deeply irresponsible” too, like Kemi Badenoch. (See 10.15am.)
I think ultimately conflating protests against a genocide in Gaza, and ultimately weaponising that against an antisemitic attack on our streets, a terrorist attack, is deeply irresponsible.
Democratic, non-violent protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, and I think it’s worrying when government are increasingly trying to crush down dissent. And using what is a brutal attack … to point at a protest and say people don’t have a right to also speak out against a genocide is conflating issues, is incoherent, and it’s exactly the opposite of what we need from politicians.
We need statesmanship in this moment, we need responsibility, we need people to be sensitive about that language, but also recognise that there is complexity to this, and it can’t just be about finger pointing at people who are very worried about a genocide.
Polanski says migration has been UK's 'superpower' and that inequality, not new arrivals, are to blame for country's problems
Zack Polanski has set out some of the arguments he will be using in his Green party conference speech later in an article for the Guardian. In it, he defends immigration, saying it has been the UK’s “superpower”.
Here is an extract.
Labour is capitulating to the anti-migrant talking points of Reform, all while talking the language of decency and fairness. It makes my toes curl.
But I am here to do what others won’t. To tell the truth about what makes our country great and what makes it not so great. While others thrive on creating scapegoats, I am here to tell you a different story.The tapestry of cultural life in Britain is what makes our nation strong. From the doctors, nurses and carers who staff our NHS and who look after our elderly people, to the entrepreneurs, artists and teachers who enrich our culture and economy. Migration is our DNA as a country, it is our superpower …
The truth is simple: Britain is not broken because of migration. Britain is broken because of inequality. Because of an economy that allows billionaires to hoard wealth while millions struggle to get by. Because of a political class that has lost its nerve and forgotten its purpose.
And here is the full article.
Polanski says it is mistake to conflate campaigning against genocide in Gaza with antisemitism
Yesterday Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, argued that rising antisemitism was linked to the language used by some pro-Palestinian campaigners since the 7 October Hamas attack that started the Israel-Gaza war. She said:
I think the calls to globalise the intifada have been disgraceful. We’ve seen people using those words on placards around Westminster. That’s what globalising the intifada looks like. It means killing Jewish people. And I think there’s been far too much tolerance of a lot of rhetoric at many levels.
In an interview with Sky News this morning, Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, said that he did not agree and that he thought Badenoch was being “deeply irresponsible”. He explained:
We need to not conflate the Jewish community and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and actually putting those two things together, I say, personally as a Jewish person, makes me feel more at risk.
I think you can both be absolutely clear that antisemitism and Islamophobia in our country is totally unacceptable, and you stand against the ongoing genocide, and our government’s complicity – in fact, active enabling – by sellling arms to Israel. Those are two different issues.
Polanski partially defends Green co-deputy leader over anti-Israel comments, saying it's 'contextual' and he's apologised
In an interview on the Today programme, Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, was asked at length about anti-Israel comments by the co-deputy leader, Mothin Ali, and other Green members. Polanski said some of the comments referenced were “totally unacceptable”, but he also said it was important to understand the context, and he said Ali deserved credit for apologising.
Justin Webb, the presenter, said that after 7 October Ali described Israelis as colonialists and defended the right of indigenous people to fight back. Ali apologised. But Ali had also targeted a Leeds-based rabbi who went to Israel after 7 October to serve as a reservist in the IDF, Webb said. He asked if Ali was the right person to be deputy leader of a political party.
Polanski said that Ali had apologised. Asked if that was enough, he went on:
Well, I want to be clear that I’m a Jewish person, and I feel this genocide incredibly deeply.
As a Muslim man, I can only imagine what it feels like to know that every single day in Palestine the equivalent of a classroom of children are dying.
Asked if that excused those views, Polanski replied:
It doesn’t excuse it, but I think it’s contextual. This rabbi went off to fight for the IDF … I absolutely defend [Ali’s] right to be annoyed and upset about what is happening.
Webb said the rabbi had to move out of his home. He asked Polanski if the “context” explained that. Polanski replied:
I think there is a context to this. I think if someone goes to fight with an army who’s committing a genocide, that there are consequences.
Now I don’t stand by what Mothin said, and neither does he. But ultimately, I do think we need to have a context on this.
Webb then asked about a Green councillor in Bristol reprimanded for sharing a Hamas video on social media. In the video Israel was described as an “animal state”.
Polanski said that he did not know about this case, but he said that as a Jewish man he was very upset about what was happening in Palestine.
Webb said the Green party had members who suggested it was not legitimate to be a Jew, and that Israel was not legitimate.
Polanski said he did not think anyone had said that, and that Webb should be asking about Israel committing genocide.
Webb then a lot of people were arguing that views like this, saying Israel is an animal state, were simply unacceptable, and people saying them should not be allowed to take part in civilised society. He suggested Polanski did not agree.
Polanski said that Webb was “conflating” various issues, but that those words were “totally unacceptable”.
Webb again said parties should take responsibility. Polanski said apologising was taking responsibility. He said Ali was a Muslim, and Islamophobia is on the rise, he said. And he said Ali issued a statement yesterday about the synagogue attack that he found very moving.
Labour are ‘handmaidens’ to Reform UK’s ‘dangerous’ politics, Polanski to tell Green conference
Good morning. The Green party starts its conference today, with its membership up to a record high (over 80,000) following the election of “eco-populist” Zack Polanski as leader. But the Greens struggle for coverage at the best of times, and these aren’t the best of times. The news today will be dominated by the repurcussions from the Manchester synagogue attack.
We are covering the synagogue terror attack on a separate live blog and that will be the place to go to updates.
The attack has triggered a fierce political debate about the causes of rising antisemitism, and I will be picking up on some of that here. But the events in Manchester are subject to an ongoing police investigation and, if we do open comments, we won’t be allowing comments relating directly to them BTL. If readers don’t comply with at, comments will get closed.
According to extracts of his speech released in advance, Polanski is going to accuse Labour of playing “handmaidens” to the the “dangerous, deceitful politics” of Reform UK. He will say:
When Farage says jump, Labour asks ‘how high’. But the Greens won’t dance to the tune of a Trump-loving, NHS-dismantling corporate stooge. Let’s say it loud and clear: migrants and refugees are not the problem; they are part of what makes Britain great. The real threat to our high streets, to our homes, to our NHS, comes from decades of austerity, privatisation and an economic system that rigs the rules for billionaires.
Polanski will also restate his party’s commitment to invest more in public services with the proceeds of a wealth tax.
At every opportunity, our message will be clear: the Green party will bring down your bills, cut the cost of living and protect our NHS … We will tax the wealthiest, end rip-off Britain, and invest in public services that work for everyone …
If Reform can rocket through the polls with a politics of despair, then it’s time for the Green party to do the same thing with a politics of hope.
According to the speech extracts released overnight, Polanski’s will also describe Reform UK’s politics as “hateful” and “divisive”. But in interviews this morning he has also been grilled over comments by Mothin Ali, the Green co-deputy party leader, that led to a former university rabbi having to flee his home. Polanski said Ali had apologised for those comments. I will post more details soon.
Polanski is addressing the conference at 1.30pm, and at 3.45pm Andrew Slaughter, the Green leader in Wales, is speaking.
Otherwise, there is not much in the diary today, but two events are happening in private today that are significant. The Office for Budget Responsibility is due to hand its latest economic forecasts to the Treasury, which will in effect tell her quite how much tax she will need to rise in the budget next month. And Kemi Badenoch is chairing a shadow cabinet meeting where they will discuss the plan to leave the European convention on human rights that Badenoch is due to announce on Sunday.
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