At Brighton, Polanski raised his arms in triumph. It felt more like a wave goodbye

The Greens’ leader seems long on agitprop but short on ideas – and one byelection away from losing his job

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold. It must be weird to realise that you have in effect made yourself obsolete inside a year. Worse, that you have actively accelerated your demise. Even AI doesn’t work at that speed. But that’s precisely what it looks as if Zack Polanski has done. Maybe he should just look on the bright side. He’s managed eight Liz Trusses. Not to be sneezed at.

Polanski is partly a victim of his own success. A cautionary tale of being careful what you wish for. Like Nigel Farage, the leader of the Green party was one of Keir Starmer’s fiercest critics. Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting excepted. Keir wasn’t radical enough. Did not care enough about Gaza. Was too dull. And under Zack’s leadership, voters swarmed from Labour to the Greens. The party climbed to a record high of 18% in the polls and won the Gorton and Denton byelection against the staggeringly dim Matt Goodwin.