Who Is Keir Starmer's New Nemesis? PM Warned Of 'Hypnotherapist' Rival Zack Polanski Rising In Polls

Keir Starmer has no shortage of critics, but perhaps the most dangerous of them is not sitting across the aisle in Westminster, nor fronting a Reform UK rally on GB News.

His new problem is emerging from a different corner of the Left altogether, led by a man many voters had barely heard of a year ago: Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader once better known for offering hypnotherapy sessions than for hammering Labour in the polls.

Within his own ranks, Starmer's grip is far from secure. Plenty of Labour MPs would rather see Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband take over. What do that line-up of would-be successors have in common?

They're not Keir Starmer, which increasingly seems to be the main qualification required in a potential Labour leader. Not being Rachel Reeves probably helps, too. It would be easier to feel sorry for him if he showed any real awareness of his own limits, or if he weren't so clearly destined for a lucrative legal career the moment this one ends.

The PM's Overlooked Rival

For all the grumbling on his own benches, Labour is not Starmer's most immediate threat. Arch-critic Andy Burnham can't even get himself into Parliament, let alone No 10, and Streeting and Rayner are biding their time.

On the Right, Nigel Farage is having a field day dismantling the Conservative Party, one defection at a time, and remains the biggest danger to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. He may yet prove her nemesis, but at least she looks ready for a fight.

Starmer has rightly identified Farage as a problem, yet the real challenge could be creeping up on him from the Green benches. Enter Zack Polanski, the 'charismatic' leader of the Green Party, a man whose past includes offering hypnotherapy 'to help women increase the size of their breasts using his mind'.

The temptation to dwell on that, or to make cheap cracks about his famously imperfect teeth, is obvious, not least given how often Americans mock British smiles. In truth, his wonky gnashers might be the most patriotic thing about him.

But the more worrying issue for Starmer is what comes out of Polanski's mouth, not what's in it. He has perfected the art of flattering every left‑wing grievance going, delivering a greatest hits set of progressive causes: Israel, open borders, trans rights, evil landlords, wealth taxes, Donald Trump, Israel again, Gaza and, once more for luck, Israel.

Every now and then he remembers he actually leads the Greens rather than a Trotskyist splinter group and throws in a line about the environment.

Polanski's great advantage is brutally simple: he is not in government. He can promise anything and say anything, safe in the knowledge he will not be held responsible for putting any of it into practice. Farage enjoys the same luxury, just as Starmer did before the last election.

How Zack Polanski Is Eating Into Labour's Vote

Now Labour is in power, reality has finally arrived. Starmer is constrained by the dull business of responsibility and delivery. He can't whip up left‑wing crowds with fantasy politics and consequence‑free slogans, not when every pledge will be measured against the next Budget or NHS waiting list figure.

Polanski, by contrast, can sell the dream. And younger, disillusioned voters are lapping it up.

The numbers tell the story. Only 38% of Labour's 2024 voters still back the party, according to YouGov. Of those who have drifted away, the largest block, 15%, has gone Green. Among 18‑ to 24‑year‑olds, Polanski's party now enjoys a striking 37% support.

For Starmer, that is not just a noisy protest vote; it is a direct raid on the coalition that put him in Downing Street.

The coming Gorton and Denton by‑election on 26 February will offer the first real test of how far this Green surge can go. Polanski is expected to split the Left‑leaning vote and could help destroy Labour's hefty 13,400 majority in the seat.

But here is the twist: the Greens still won't win. By weakening Labour in key contests, they risk clearing the path not for a greener Britain but for Reform UK.

In the end, Polanski may turn out to be Starmer's nemesis, but Nigel Farage could be the one walking off with the spoils.

The Prime Minister is besieged on all sides, jokers to the left, clowns to the right, and stuck in the middle with a Green insurgent on one flank, a populist wrecking ball on the other, and a party behind him that already seems to be browsing for his replacement.