Before his election as Green Party leader in September 2025 – and for a short time afterwards – Zack Polanski would arrive at interviews alone, without the entourage of advisers typically trailing high-profile politicians between engagements. A year on, with the Greens surging in the polls, the party has begun to professionalise.
As Polanski’s team of personal advisers has grown, so too has the network shaping and influencing the Green Party’s eco-populist leader. From party lifers to former Corbynites to an acting coach, the New Statesman takes a look at Polanski’s operation and its key figures.
The two Georgias
At the heart of Polanski’s team are his two advisers – Georgia Nelson and Georgia Elander – known internally as “the two Georgias”. Nelson, Polanski’s leadership office manager, has been involved with the Greens since her student days in 2019 and previously worked for Carla Denyer on her 2024 election campaign before joining the leader’s office. Elander, Polanski’s special communications adviser, also worked for Denyer as a media officer before moving into Polanski’s team; their first experience in comms came as a volunteer in the Green Party press office in 2015.
On the campaign
During both his deputy leadership bid in 2022 and his successful leadership campaign last year, Polanski was supported by Naranee Ruthra-Rajan, a Green Party candidate for Hammersmith and Fulham Council. A party member since 2009, she stood unsuccessfully as a prospective parliamentary candidate in 2024 and previously co-chaired her local party alongside Polanski in 2019.
Polanski’s previous life as an actor in Manchester is well known, and theatre continues to shape his leadership style. A key influence on his speechcraft is Aileen Gonsalves, a former director at the Royal Shakespeare Company and creator of the eponymous “Gonsalves method”, of which Polanski is a former student. The technique aims to enhance “charisma, effectiveness and influence”.
Gonsalves developed the method while directing Judi Dench, Simon Russell Beale and Vanessa Redgrave at the RSC (she has said Dench “does this authentic present connection instinctively”). It emphasises “being in the moment” and “active listening”, and is taught through “Gonsalves Cards”, each presenting a different exercise – from improvised workplace encounters to awkward chance meetings. Under her tutelage, Polanski has used the method to sharpen the authenticity of his communication and delivery.
The vanguard
Greens Organise was instrumental in Polanski’s election (often compared – not always favourably for its members – to Momentum under Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership). Founded by 150 members at the party’s conference in September 2024, it is an internal pressure group seeking to shift the Greens leftwards.
The group began with an open letter urging the party to “realise its responsibility and potential” as “the electoral voice of a popular movement”. Early supporters included former leader Sian Berry and Hackney mayoral candidate Zoë Garbett. Since then, Greens Organise has pushed for an “internationalist, anti-capitalist and ecologically transformative agenda”, backing motions such as “Abolish Landlords” at the 2025 autumn conference.
More recently, it coordinated an anti-austerity pledge for local government, signed by over 200 Green councillors and candidates, and now backed by Polanski. One co-founder, Steve Jackson, helped run the party’s campaign in the Gorton and Denton by-election and worked on Polanski’s 2025 leadership bid. He now works in Hannah Spencer’s office following her election in February.
Another prominent figure is Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn, who publicly backed Polanski and defended Greens Organise against claims of a “hostile takeover”. While not formally part of Polanski’s inner circle, he has consistently argued for the party to adopt more explicitly socialist positions, criticising its failure to capitalise on the 2024 election.
The press team
As part of a broader push to professionalise amid rising membership and improved polling, the Greens’ press operation has expanded. Anjula Singh, formerly communications director for Jeremy Corbyn and a BBC journalist, now works on press and communications. More recent hires include Abi Wilkinson, a journalist and commentator who until February 2026 worked for Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana. Prior to that role, Wilkinson had publicly endorsed Polanski and joined the Greens.
The ideas
In March, James Meadway – a former adviser to John McDonnell – launched the think tank Verdant alongside campaigner Deborah Doane. Meadway, a former Treasury official and chief economist at the New Economics Foundation, played a key role in shaping Labour’s 2017 economic programme. Parallels have already been drawn between that platform and Polanski’s emerging economic agenda.
Verdant’s launch drew a wide range of Green figures, including Denyer, Spencer, Ellie Chowns and Caroline Lucas, as well as Labour MP Clive Lewis. While not formally affiliated with the party, its close links suggest it will help shape future policy.
Polanski’s podcast, Bold Politics with Zack Polanski, launched soon after he became leader, has also become a vehicle for influence as much as profile-building. Guests have included economist Gary Stephenson, journalists Grace Blakeley and Owen Jones, immigration expert Zoe Gardner and former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen – all figures informally close to Polanski.
Elsewhere, the progressive think tank Common Wealth, founded by Matthew Lawrence, has contributed to policy development. Ideas such as how the UK might decouple electricity and gas prices – outlined in Polanski’s March speech at the New Economics Foundation – originated there. Khem Rogaly, a principal research fellow, has also advised on Nato and defence policy.
These are Polanski’s people. As the Greens look ahead to the 7 May elections, the prospect of significant gains is coming into view. The durability of that surge will depend on the strength of Polanski’s operation, and on how effectively its politics and communication can be sustained.
[Further reading: The Green Party is using housing inequality to punish Labour]
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Subscribe here to commentSome truly lovey people included in this article. Kind, clever, down to earth and working their butts off.
The Gonsalves Cards mentioned in this article are currently live on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gonsalvestoolkit/the-gonsalves-toolkit
You see Aileen Gonsalves herself explaining how some of the exercises work on there.