Watch the moment GB News presenter Charlie Peters was unable to contain his laughter at the suggestion Green Party leader Zack Polanski was a political “rockstar”.
Speaking on GB News, ex-Tory Mayor of Middlesbrough Andy Preston compared the left-wing leader to Nigel Farage, lauding his charisma and ability to rally the masses.
For the mainstream political parties, Mr Preston admitted that the picture was “looking bleak”.
Meanwhile, the pollsters at YouGov have found that the Greens would enjoy a 15 per cent share of the vote if an election were to be held now, as of 7-8 December, hot on the heels of Labour and the Tories.
“The guy’s a rock star,” the Tory declared regarding Mr Polanski, which led to Charlie openly laughing at the claim.
Nevertheless, Mr Preston continued: “He is as charismatic as Nigel Farage. They’ve gone from nowhere to 15 per cent in the polls.
“If they get to 18 per cent in the General Election, guess who loses their seat? Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer, Jess Phillips, Lucy Powell.
“Labour will be annihilated by the Greens if Zack Polanski continues just a bit more on this track, it’s quite remarkable. He’s doing exactly what Farage did.”
The GB News star appeared to hardly believe his ears
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Mr Preston told GB News that just like Reform, the Greens are benefitting from having a “clean slate” in Westminster, with no time in Government – meaning that “they can’t be blamed for any of the current problems that we have”.
“They can promise the earth and not be held to account yet,” Mr Preston added.
But Charlie remained unconvinced by the “rockstar” claim, determined to set the record straight.
“You say that he’s a rock star,” the People’s Channel star started off. “I think you might be overlooking it slightly.
Mr Polanski has overseen a boom in Green Party support
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“I’ll give them credit for this. They’re very good at digital campaigns they are doing on TikTok with short videos, which Reform is doing very successfully as well.”
“But when Zack Polanski’s come up against direct criticism on, say, Question Time last week, that rockstar facade does falter somewhat with him making those very controversial comments about wiping people’s bums, about care workers and needing migrants to do that work under pressure.
“He had a major kerfuffle there.”
Last week, on the BBC debate show’s controversial immigration special, Mr Polanski came under fire after making the claim that Britain should accept migrants.
He said: “One in five care workers are foreign nationals. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly want to wipe someone’s bum.”
Clarifying the issue, Mr Preston admitted he believes Mr Polanski “talks a lot of rubbish” and reiterated that he did not support his politics.
However, he did double-down on the rockstar claim, praising the party’s leader of being able to snap up popular support while being “unpolished” and “raw” with the electorate.
“I think that’s what people like. The fact he will say stuff that some people don’t like. And he’s not aiming to get 40 per cent of the vote. He’s not even aiming to get 30.
“If he gets to 18 or 19 per cent, they become a monstrous force in British politics, and he’s nearly there,” Mr Preston said.