Green Party leader Zack Polanski (left) attends a stunt taking aim at Rachel Reeves’ wealth tax, at Parliament Square in London, November 25, 2025
THE PRIME MINISTER has been branded “completely subservient” to US President Donald Trump by the leader of the Green Party after the two exchanged blows over foreign policy.
At a rally outside controversial US tech firm Palantir’s London offices, Zack Polanski responded to Sir Keir Starmer’s PMQ comments calling him “high on drugs, soft on Putin.”
Mr Polanski said the prime minister’s comments were “completely disgraceful” and “deeply disrespectful” at a protest on Thursday against a £330 million contract for Palantir to provide data collection services to the NHS.
He said the government has been subservient to the US president’s foreign policy aims not only in relation to recent military actions and threats to Greenland, but also in allowing Palantir into Britain’s public health system.
…
“When Donald Trump told us who he was the first time we should have believed him,” Mr Polanski said.
“This is a dangerous man who is behaving in increasingly unpredictable ways and our government over and over again, through Keir Starmer, has been completely subservient, both in terms of healthcare systems we’re talking about today and the link to Palantir, but also in terms of our military defence.”
He reiterated calls made earlier this week, demanding a review into US military forces operating in Britain and for the government to consider leaving Nato.
“We need to have an urgent review about US bases on UK soil and certainly if Donald Trump invades Greenland then it is time to evict them from those US bases,” he said.
Siân Berry has a long history in politics and success was sweet when she took the Brighton seat. Photograph: Ian West/PA
Since Zack Polanski took over as leader, the party has doubled its membership and its four MPs want to take on Reform’s anger and build community spirit
“Someone has to be out there making the narrative for social security. Someone has to fight the corrosive attitudes to people on benefits,” says Siân Berry, who has just finished her first year as a Green MP in the House of Commons.
She is speaking to the Guardian in her Brighton constituency office, formerly occupied by the legendary Caroline Lucas who flew a lone flag as the only member of parliament for the Green party for 14 years.
Now, however, there are four MPs including Berry, battling together, she says, to hold the space for the left at a moment when it feels the far right has hypnotised the entire political body. “Often Adrian [Ramsay, MP for Waveney Valley] is the only one bringing up animal welfare in Defra questions, or Carla [Denyer, MP for Bristol Central] will be the only person arguing for a refugee’s right to work to the Home Office.” They have all, at different times, been the only party to raise the need for taxes on extreme wealth.
“Caroline was a lone voice in parliament,” she says. ‘But there are four of us so we can share responsibilities. We each shadow six government departments.” Berry’s portfolio covers crime and policing, justice, transport, work and pensions, culture, media and sport and democratic standards. “We absolutely have to be ready if an issue comes up. There are some issues where if a Green isn’t in the chamber asking a question, that question won’t be asked.
‘There are four of us so we can share responsibilities’: from left, Siân Berry, Carla Denyer, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns. Photograph: Ian West/PA
…
Most of all, Berry longs to see strong action on climate. “The climate situation is awful. A two degree rise is within sight. We are on a knife-edge of whether we can protect this ecosystem. It’s our only home.”
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Britain’s Chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, addresses the crowd during a ‘Vigil for Israel’ opposite the entrance to Downing Street, the official residence of Britain’s Prime Minister, in London on October 9, 2023 [HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images]
The leader of the UK Green Party, Zack Polanski, has publicly accused the Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis of failing to represent British Jews, saying instead that the Rabbi “speaks in the interests of defending the Israeli government.” The comments come amid rising tensions over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and intensifying debate within British Jewish communities over what constitutes legitimate communal leadership.
Polanski made the remarks on The Rest Is Politics, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. Though describing himself as “proudly Jewish but not religious,” he said he feels “less safe” in the UK because of what he sees as efforts to conflate anti-Semitism with anti‑Zionism.
“I am outraged that there are British communal organisations — in fact, I’ll go further — we have a Chief Rabbi who I think has overstepped the mark many times. He is not speaking for the British Jewish community,” said Polanski.
“He is certainly not speaking for me,” Polanski added. “I don’t think he’s speaking for the wider community.”
Continuing his comments about the Rabbi’s support for Israel, Polanski said: “He is clearly speaking in the interests of defending the Israeli government. As a personal view, he is totally entitled to do that, and I’m totally entitled to disagree with him. But for someone with the role of Chief Rabbi to politicise what is happening in Israel as a defence of the Jewish community in Britain, I think, is deeply damaging.”
Polanski’s remarks reflect growing unease within parts of the British Jewish community and wider civil society about the use of religious leadership to advance the political agenda of the Israeli state.
Rabbi Mirvis has in recent years repeatedly framed criticism of Israel including opposition to its Gaza genocide, as inseparable from threats to Jewish safety. He has publicly condemned UK government actions that critics interpret as pressure on Israel, intervened in domestic political debates over Israel’s assault on Gaza, and argued that anti‑Zionism often equates to anti-Semitism.
For instance, in September 2024 he decried the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms‑export licences to Israel as undermining a “close strategic ally” and feeding “falsehoods” that Israel had breached international law.
In 2025 he publicly rejected government plans to recognise a Palestinian state, calling the move a “profound betrayal” that would encourage Hamas and imperil Jewish safety.
He has also insisted that “anti‑Zionism is the new anti-Semitism,” arguing that Judaism and Zionism are inextricably linked, a stance that many British Jews contest.
Polanski is not alone in questioning whether institutions such as the office of the Chief Rabbi adequately represent the full range of Jewish opinion in Britain, particularly those critical of Israeli government policy. Organisations such as Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) long argued that established communal bodies fail to reflect the diversity of political perspectives within the Jewish population.
Polanski said that his own views on Israel have evolved after witnessing the genocide in Gaza, and that advocating for Palestinian rights has attracted increasing numbers of Jewish members to the Green Party.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Following on from the Green Surge, with Green Party membership now at over 150,000, the Young Greens have over 40,000 members – making them larger than Young Labour.
“We meant it when we said we’re here to replace Labour – and I could not be happier that our incredible Young Greens are yet again leading the way.
“Young people have been let down by successive Conservative and Labour governments, so it’s no surprise that they are desperate for an alternative.
“I said the Green Party wants to make hope normal again, and up and down the country our Young Greens are engaging in bold politics – whether they are members, activists or elected representatives – and doing that each and every day.
“It’s become a media commonplace to say that young people are going to Reform, so let’s set the record straight. The Young Greens are the biggest youth and student wing of any political party in the UK. They are the biggest Green youth movement in Europe, and recent polling shows the Green Party is now the most popular party among young people.
“Britain’s young people are going Green.”
The Young Greens includes all party members who are under the age of 30, or full time students; over 20 universities have Young Green societies, with more campuses organising every day. They also have independent leadership, internal decision-making structures, and policies that are distinct from the main party.
Ciara Alleyne, Co-Chair of the Young Greens, said:
“Our generation knows that Labour won’t stand up for them or their future. They are looking for an alternative and despite what the media says, it is not Reform they are flocking to.
“Young people know what matters to them, and they are willing to fight for it by becoming part of a movement that spreads hope, not hatred and fear.
“We are ecstatic to have the largest youth and student wing in the UK, but it is only the start. We are organising across the country to take on politicians across the spectrum who are scapegoating the vulnerable and deferring to the wishes of the 1%.
“It’s our future more than anyone else’s, and we’re making sure it’s a bright one.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski (left) attends a stunt taking aim at Rachel Reeves’ wealth tax, at Parliament Square in London, November 25, 2025
