Polanski’s Greens are beating Liberal Democrats at their own game

LONDON — Zack Polanski was once a Liberal Democrat. Now he’s eating his old party’s lunch. 

Britain’s liberal centrists are scrambling to find their voice in Britain’s multi-party system as the self-described “eco-populist” Green Party leader grabs all the attention.

The Liberal Democrats — the third-largest party in the U.K. House of Commons — failed to retain their £500 deposit in last month’s Gorton and Denton by-election in which the Greens convincingly took the Greater Manchester seat from the governing Labour Party. 

They now face a big test in local elections in May.

“There’s no question they’re being squeezed,” Tory peer and pollster Robert Hayward said of the Lib Dem position.

They “may well be hit” in May as the Greens compete for the same “we don’t like you two parties” voice, he said.  

It leaves long-serving leader Ed Davey facing questions about his strategy — and even his future as leader — as his party gathers in the northern English city of York for their spring conference this weekend. 

Attention economy 

Lib Dem MPs should be having the time of their lives. 

Their record-breaking 72 seats at the 2024 election saw their triumphant return as the third-largest party in the Commons after a near wipeout in 2015.

The ruling Labour Party is deeply unpopular, and war in the Middle East has traditionally been election-winning territory for the centrists. In the aftermath of ex-Labour PM Tony Blair’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Liberal Democrats won parliamentary by-elections later that year and in 2004.

Yet they are now jostling for attention with parties with far fewer parliamentary seats. 

Reform UK is dominating conversation on the right of British politics — despite having just eight MPs — thanks to its poll lead, and eye-catching anti-immigration policies.

The Greens, with just five MPs, have found a strong communicator in Polanski, who became their leader last September and has eclipsed Davey, long known for his ability to capture media attention.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t frustrating,” said one Lib Dem MP about their coverage. Like others quoted, this person was granted anonymity to speak candidly. 

“Why would you cover the Liberal Democrats?” a senior party figure asked. “We aren’t polling well enough for people to take it seriously that we might be a party of government next time.” 

A Liberal Democrat spokesman pointed to the party’s success in 2024 as well as last year in local council by-elections. “Ed is the most popular leader in British politics and has established himself as the anti-Trump voice in Parliament,” the spokesman said. “Ed is the only leader with a plan to fix our NHS and end the cost of living crisis. We will take on the populists and win.”

Can’t beat ‘em? Join ‘em

Davey became a household name performing questionable stunts during the 2024 general election campaign, and he continues to vie for attention with headline-grabbing positions on topics dominating the news. 

He is consistently critical of U.S. President Donald Trump — most recently calling for King Charles’ planned state visit to the U.S. to be canceled. He also condemned “tax exiles” in Dubai affected by Iranian strikes, confronting online critics with pithy rebuttals. 

He spearheaded a Commons debate criticizing the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — though this backfired when opponents pointed out he had praised the former Prince Andrew when he was a minister in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government early 2010s.

Earlier this year his deputy Daisy Cooper called for theTreasury to be replaced with a Department for Growth. 

The party is also hoping to capture attention by creating a press conference room in its Westminster HQ, POLITICO reported last month.

“Not everybody is fully signed up to that strategy,” the senior party figure quoted above said. 

There is a “general unrest about the ‘let’s grab any passing headline we can, regardless of how closely it aligns to our values or our broader messaging’” approach, that figure added.

“It’s not all about how many podcasts you’re on, how many times you get photos on the front page of whatever newspaper tickles your fancy,” the Lib Dem MP quoted above said. 

Sean Kemp, a former Lib Dem head of media, cautioned: “The coverage is no good if it’s coverage that actually loses you voters.”

Right man for the job

Davey will have been leader for six years in August, and now some in his party are privately questioning if he is the right person to lead them in the long run. 

“If we don’t make the size of gains that we thought we were going to, then I think some of the unease that’s being expressed behind closed doors might well be” made public, the senior party figure said of the Lib Dem local election result. 

“There are questions being asked about who’s the right person to take us forward,” they added.

Roz Savage, an MP elected in 2024, told PoliticsHome in an interview earlier this month she couldn’t give her view “on the record” on the question of Davey’s leadership. 

Even Davey’s supporters acknowledge things need to change.

The MP quoted above said the party “definitely shouldn’t be standing still,” and had “to keep constantly evolving and adapting.”

Stealing their clothes

Davey’s rivals have been studying the Lib Dem playbook.

Former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said her party had “learned a lot from watching Lib Dem by-election campaigns,” gaining “an understanding of what you need to do as a challenger party in terms of delivering your leaflets, the pattern of it.”

Sam White, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff in opposition, saw echoes of Lib Dem strategy in the Greens’ successful Gorton and Denton by-election campaign, where Polanski campaigned hard against Labour’s Middle East stance. 

“This is how they do by-elections,” White said.

“They happily face both ways. They offer the public a really low-cost way and low-risk way of giving a bloody nose to a governing party who’s quite unpopular,” he added. 

Staying the course 

Others think the by-election trouncing is overblown, pointing to the party’s focus on Tory and Reform facing seats in the so-called “blue wall.”

“[The Greens] are not going to be part of the debate and the discussion in nearly all the places where the Liberal Democrats are going to be competitive,” a second Lib Dem MP said. “People in individual seats are not daft” about which party posed the best challenge.

It is only sensible for parties to target areas where they can win in Britain’s majoritarian first-past-the-post electoral system, they added.

Party veteran Kemp cautions the Lib Dems not to move left in response to the Green surge, warning Davey won’t be able to “out Polanski Polanski.” 

“There is no gain for them in sounding massively left-wing,” he warned, adding: “They need to not scare people off.” 

He advocates “greater ideological consistency” —  something he thinks will be easier given the party’s narrower focus on Tory and Reform facing seats.

“Sometimes there’s benefits in being a bit boring,” he said.