Zack Polanski has apologised for claiming to have been able to help women increase the size of their breasts using his mind.
The newly elected Green Party leader, while previously working as a hypnotherapist, offered a session to increase an undercover newspaper reporter’s breast size and improve her body image.
And, asked about the claims following his landslide leadership win, Mr Polanski said “I apologised for that 12 years ago” and apologised again.
Asked if voters could trust him in light of the claims, he told BBC Breakfast: “Well, it’s never for a politician to say ‘trust me’.
“But what I would say is, I apologise, well, I apologised for that 12 years ago, and one of my favourite politicians, Tony Benn, often said, ‘I don’t care where you came from, I care where you’re going’.
“Ultimately trust is a transactional relationship where you build trust based on the actions.”
Labour immediately resurfaced the Green leader’s 2013 claim, with an attack post on the party’s press account declaring: “Meet Zack Polanski. This is the person who the Greens just elected as their new leader.” The post contained an extract of The Sun article declaring Mr Polanski’s support for hypnotic breast enhancement. “This is an extremely new approach, but I can see it becoming popular very quickly, because it’s so safe and a lot cheaper than a boob job,” he is quoted as saying.
Several Labour MPs shared the post, with Kettering’s Rosie Wrighting adding: “So this is who the Greens think should lead their party? Says it all.” Meanwhile Stratford and Bow MP Uma Kumaran said: “Grim.”
Mr Polanski hit back, saying: “The Labour government, when they could have been talking about the inequality act, or the homeless people on the streets, or the fact that we’ve just spent £15bn in nuclear weapons – we could have that discussion – but no, the Labour Party yesterday put out a press release about a silly article way before I was a politician from over a decade ago that I’ve already apologised for.
“That sounds to me like this is a Labour government worrying, and they should do.”
Mr Polanski secured the Green Party leadership in a landslide victory, winning 20,411 votes from the party membership, while Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay’s joint campaign received just 3,705 votes.
Elected with the largest ever number of votes in a Green Party leadership election, becoming the first ever sole leader of the party, Mr Polanski promised “bold action and bold leadership”.
In his victory speech, Mr Polanski sent a message to Sir Keir’s Labour Party, vowing the Greens will replace it.
He said: “We will nationalise the water companies. We will hold this Labour government to account. Because when we look at Keir Starmer and what this government have been doing, whether it’s the two-child benefit cap, the disability cuts, the genocide in Gaza, my message to Labour is very clear: we are not here to be disappointed by you, we are not here to be concerned by you, we’re here to replace you.”
