Zack Polanski is clinging on as Greens leader today after being humiliatingly beaten in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

Mr Polanski trailed in more than 3,000 votes behind Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali in the contest for the seat vacated by Sir Keir Starmer.

The result sparked a welter of criticism, with rumours swirling of a plot to oust him. The party was already engaged in a bitter civil war over the notorious ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion passed at its conference in Brighton on Sunday. 

A chastened Mr Polanski fronted up to the media this morning, insisting he was ‘absolutely’ planning to stay on as leader.

He again defended leaving the conference and abstaining on the Israel motion – which proposed a single Palestinian state and was condemned as anti-Semitic by critics. 

Mr Polanski – who is Jewish – said he had been fighting ‘one of the most important elections in our recent history and people in that election said they wanted to see me on the ground’.

Pressed if he supported the motion, Mr Polanski told Sky News: ‘I would have supported the motion as amended. It wasn’t amended, so no.’

But he added: ‘Ultimately, I agree with the substance of the motion. Where I disagree is the idea the Green Party should be deciding what the future of the region looks like.’

On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Polanski repeatedly refused to say whether he believed the state of Israel should exist. ‘What I want is to see a safe space for Israelis and Palestinians,’ he said.

Mr Polanski said that after his interviews he was ‘going home to watch Traitors’ before getting some sleep.

But his problems look to be deepening with the chair of the Jewish Greens, Vivien Lichtenstein, calling for him to quit this morning. 

One of his predecessors has also refused to endorse him continuing in the role, accusing him of going ‘missing’ during the anti-Semitism row.

Caroline Lucas, former MP and leader of the Greens from 2003 to 2006, 2007 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2018, said he should have opposed the ‘dangerous’ move by hardline pro-Palestinians activists.

Mr Polanski finished more than 3,000 votes behind Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali in the seat vacated by Sir Keir Starmer to cap a torrid week for the Green leader

Caroline Lucas, also a former party leader, castigated Mr Polanski in a TV interview for missing a weekend party conference vote that passed a highly controversial ‘Zionism is racism’ policy

Andy Burnham boasted that people had ‘voted for hope’ in the by-election 

Party members passed a motion that demands the eventual destruction of Israel, as well as treating it like apartheid South Africa over the war in Gaza.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight, Ms Lucas said that ‘he should have been there and he should have voted’ in Brighton, adding: ‘I would have hoped that he would have really been a very strong critic of this motion because the motion was flawed from top to bottom in my view. 

‘It is dangerous, it is divisive, it tries to have a singular definition of Zionism when we know that there are many.’

Asked if he should carry on as leader she said: ‘Let’s see what happens in the coming days and weeks.

‘I want him to speak about what happened, I want him to show the leadership that was missing on Sunday, I think the jury is out about whether he will do that but I hope he will.’

A Green spokesman said before the result showed it was clear Mr Polanski had come a ‘close second’ in Holborn, adding: ‘Taking the fight to Labour in one of its safest seats shows just how far the Greens have come.’ 

In the end Ms Abdi-Wali won 12,292 votes with Mr Polanski behind at 8,928. Tory’s Ewan Cameron and Peter Newman were a distant third and fourth with 1,922 and 1,612 respectively. The Lib Dems’ Patrick Spillman came fifth with 924 votes. 

Ms Abdi-Wali’s lead is little more than a quarter of the 11,572 majority enjoyed by Sir Keir in the 2024 election. 

Asked if he planned to stay on as leader, Mr Polanski told reporters today: ‘Yes, absolutely, that is what leaders do’

Ms Abdi-Wali, who is also the leader of Camden Council, was the bookies’ favourite

Somali-born Ms Abdi-Wali said her victory was a testament to the success of diversity in the borough.

She said she wanted to bring Thames Water into public ownership, tackle rough sleeping and create more opportunities for young people.

Ms Abdi-Wali said: ‘I hope this moment also says something about who gets to belong, for people who look like me, I hope they see themselves reflected in this place and know that their path too belongs here. This is Camden, and this is Britain.’ 

The newly elected Labour MP originally arrived in the UK during the early Nineties as a child refugee, having fled the civil war in Somalia. 

After entering local politics and winning her first election as a local councillor in 2022, Ms Abdi-Wali made history in May by becoming the first black female leader of Camden Council. She will likely be stepping down following her parliamentary win.

If Mr Polanski had taken the win, he would have become the sixth Green MP in the Commons but the defeat will trigger fresh questions about the direction he has taken the party.

The Greens enjoyed a surge in the polls earlier this year but have seen a backslide after a series of gaffes and the emergence of Andy Burnham as Labour leader.  

But it is the latest of several controversies the party has been mired in since the former actor and hypnotist took over in September last year, taking it further to the Left and away from its ecological roots. 

After the polls closed, a Conservative spokesman said: ‘If Zack Polanski fails to win this by-election, it will surely be curtains for his leadership of the party. 

‘We hope it also marks the end of the Green Party’s sorry embrace of anti-Semitism.’

The Greens had earlier suggested that just being the main challenger to Labour was an achievement, with Mr Polanski writing on social media: ‘The Green Party got 10 per cent last time. 

‘Whatever happens tonight – we made Labour work like they never have before. I’m so proud of you all.’

Election workers counting votes in the by-election last night. Had Mr Polanski won, he would have been the Greens’ sixth MP

The turnout of 38.76 per cent in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election is lower than in some recent ones, including 47.62 per cent at Gorton and Denton in February, which Hannah Spencer won for the Greens, taking the seat from Labour.

The Green leader had been appealing for help from activists as residents cast their ballots in the contest for Sir Keir Starmer’s old seat.

Defeat for Mr Polanski underlines how Mr Burnham’s arrival has flattened the Green surge – which saw them scoop Gorton & Denton in a by-election in February and then secure record-breaking local council results in May.

Holborn & St Pancras has been a Labour stronghold since its formation in 1983, held by Frank Dobson for 32 years and Sir Keir for 11.

Sir Keir won the Holborn and St Pancras seat in 2024 with 48.9 per cent of the vote (18,884 votes), with independent Andrew Feinstein as runner-up on 18.9 per cent (7,312 votes) and the Greens in third with 10.4 per cent of the vote (4,030 votes).