How UK Greens weaponized Farage’s populist playbook – POLITICO

The Greens campaigned hard, flooding the constituency with up to 400 volunteers a day. But Spencer and Polanski have also faced claims that they have pushed a “sectarian” message in directly appealing to the seat’s Muslim vote over the war in Gaza. “We are losing our country,” said Reform’s second-placed candidate Matt Goodwin in response to Spencer’s victory Friday. “A dangerous Muslim sectarianism has emerged. We have only one general election left to save Britain.”

Green volunteers on the campaign trail were surrounded by boxes of leaflets draped in the Palestinian flag. They focused on Gaza as an issue, and the party actively highlighted comments by Starmer that had previously inflamed tensions between Labour and Muslim supporters. Leaflets were handed out to worshippers at the mosque at prayer times.

Spencer rejected the charge of running a divisive campaign Friday morning, saying that “whilst our communities may sometimes be labeled in different ways, the thing everyone seems to have underestimated here, especially over the last few weeks, is how similar we all actually are.”

Conviction politics  

As Farage bids to eclipse the Conservatives as a right-wing force in British politics, he has used regular defections to Reform UK to show he’s on the march. Polanski has tried similar, crowing about defections by ex-Labour councilors from the left. 

In video campaigning, too, Polanski has taken a leaf out of Reform’s book. He peppered his leadership run with arresting monologues to camera, and has opted to weigh in on — rather than duck — the divisive issue of immigration. 

Praising the contribution of migrants when polling shows the public want lower levels is a risky bet. The Green leader argues voters will respect a clear stance, even if they disagree. “People who know that their politicians are telling the truth and are speaking with conviction are always preferred,” he says.