Zack Polanski’s family complain to media watchdog over harassment
The family of Green Party leader Zack Polanski has formally complained to the UK's Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) after being approached at their homes by journalists and media.
Ipso informed regulated media organisations that it had been contacted by a representative acting on behalf of Polanski’s immediate family.
The message passed on a request from Polanski’s mother, father, brother and sister that the press “do not attend their homes and do not approach them by phone or email, as they do not wish to give comment to the media,” advising all enquiries to go through the Green Party press office.
Ipso referred editors to Clause 2 (Privacy) and 3 (Harassment) of the Editors’ Code, which journalists risk violating by continuing to hound the politician’s family.
This follows controversy over a recent Daily Mail article by Nicole Lampert, which claimed Polanski was “facing rebellion” within his family over fears they would have to “leave the UK if he ever became prime minister”, citing antisemitism within the Green Party.
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Polanski is Jewish and the Green Party is currently the only major British political party led by a Jew.
Lampert said she spoke to three members of Polanski’s “extended family”, and quoted one who aired the unfounded conspiracy theory that the Greens are becoming “the future Islamic party of Britain”, where there would be “no place for Jews”.
Although Lampert claimed the sources had approached her, Polanski said his immediate family had “all refused to talk” to the journalist, so she had “started hunting down random ‘anon’ relatives” for her story.
A former showbusiness editor of the Daily Mail, Lampert is one of four journalists under scrutiny in a case relating to the newspaper's use of private investigators.
In court at the beginning of March, she denied listening to hacked voicemails between the actors Sadie Frost and Jude Law.
Attacking Polanski like Corbyn
Responding to the article about his family, Polanski shared new polling data by Verian Group that showed the Green Party in second place, ahead of Labour and the Conservative Party and just five points behind Reform UK. He wrote on social media: “This is why Daily Mail journalists are going after my family now.
“The right-wing propaganda machine will not work on the Green Party. We’re ready to end Rip Off Britain, end the cost of living crisis and make hope normal again,” Polanski said.
The Green Party leader called Lampert’s behaviour “parasitic” and accused her of working for “a paper that literally backed the fascists”, a reference to the Daily Mail's documented support for Nazi Germany.
Polanski posted a link to a report in The Independent concerning Lampert's court case, which referenced accusations that she used private investigators “who engaged in unlawful acts” to gather information for stories.
Lampert, who is Jewish, claimed Polanski was using antisemitic tropes of Jewish people as “parasites” against her.
Commentators pointed out the hypocrisy of accusing a Jewish leader of a political party of antisemitism for criticising tabloid journalists "hounding" members of his family for a scoop.
Others drew parallels with how former leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, was treated by the right-wing press over allegations of antisemitism before the 2019 general election.
It has since emerged that Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and the group he headed, Labour Together, planted stories in the media about an alleged “antisemitism crisis” to discredit Corbyn and take over the party, as part of findings revealed in journalist Paul Holden’s book The Fraud.
In response to the torrent of antisemitism accusations now levelled against him and his party, Polanski replied that he is “the only Jewish person to lead a political party” and will take “no lectures” on antisemitism from the Daily Mail.
For whoever needs to hear this I'm the only Jewish person to lead a political party - third largest in the country.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) March 28, 2026
The Daily Mail have been & always will be my enemy - they historically supported fascists & continue to do so.
I'll take no lectures from them on Antisemitism.
Polanski posted this statement to Instagram and X alongside a photo of Lord Rothermere, the founder and original owner of the Daily Mail, meeting with Adolf Hitler in 1937.
The Daily Mail is still owned by the Rothermere family and is registered in Bermuda, an offshore tax haven.
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