Zack Polanski is “likely” to put himself forward as the Green Party candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, the JC understands.
The leader of the Greens, who is Jewish, was canvassing in the north London constituency on Tuesday evening, hours after Sir Keir Starmer announced he was stepping down as the local MP after being ousted as prime minister.
Polanski will still need to pass the Holborn and St Pancras Green Party selection process, which is expected to conclude by the end of next week.
But a Green source confirmed that “everyone in the party is behind him running”.
A Green Party spokesperson told the JC: “It is understood that nominations will open soon and a candidate will be selected by the end of next week.”
Another party source told the London Standard that it would be “iconic” for Polanski to run in Starmer’s seat.
“There is something quite iconic about Keir Starmer’s seat being challenged by the insurgent leader of the Green Party,” they said.
“Zack is weighing up his options at the moment. But the ultimate decision is up to the local party.”
If he does stand, the Jewish Greens group, a liberation faction within the party, of which Polanski previously served as treasurer, “will join the campaign, as will party members from all around”.
A Jewish Green source added: “Having said that, Jewish Green members will campaign for whoever is selected.”
It is understood that the Greens are planning to inundate the constituency with activists and poster boards.
Hackney Council’s Green cabinet member for finance, Jewish councillor Florence Schechter, shared a photograph of a group of Green activists campaigning on Tuesday.
“Starmer has stepped down, and the GREENS ARE A GO!” she wrote.
It has not been confirmed whether another Jewish left-wing figure, Andrew Feinstein, will stand in the by-election.
Feinstein, a left-wing antizionist and former African National Congress (ANC) MP in South Africa, came second at the last general election with 7,312 votes, compared with Starmer’s 18,884.
The Greens trailed in third place in 2024, with 4,030 votes.
Feinstein said: “We must ensure that all progressive forces in Holborn & St. Pancras unite in order to deliver an MP who represents us & will work for us.”
He added that Starmer’s legacy was “arming, providing intelligence & diplomatic, political & legal cover for a genocide”.
Feinstein previously attracted support from Labour voters who objected to Starmer’s position on Israel.
Starmer won 48.9 per cent of the Holborn and St Pancras vote at the last general election, but his share was down by 17.4 per cent, while Feinstein increased his by 18.9 per cent.
The Labour-Green split in the 2024 elections was similar in the Gorton and Denton by-election this year, where the Green’s Hannah Spencer won, and the party picked up votes from supporters of the Workers Party of Britain, which did not put up a candidate.
That arrangement could be scuppered in Holborn and St Pancras, as Hussain Shafiei, known as “Uncle Hoz” online, was selected as George Galloway’s party’s candidate.
Shafiei said: “It will be a pleasure to stand as the Workers Party GB candidate.
“We need straight-talking politics and not appeasement of the state of Israel in our politics. There has to be an end to the abdication of sovereignty of the oldest parliament to foreign powers.”
The JC previously revealed that Shafiei, a former aide to Galloway, said he would be “happy to be given a gun” and fight for Iran.
He expressed his support for the Islamic Republic in an interview and declared: “We are fighting back.”
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