In an interview with\u00a0left-wing media organisation\u00a0Novara Media in July, Feinstein, who is Jewish, said: \u201cThe next MP for Holborn and St Pancras needs to be the antithesis of Keir Starmer in every possible way \u2013 personally, politically.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Green](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2238974479.jpg\")
Green Party leader Zack Polanski delivers his speech on the first day of the Green Party Conference at Bournemouth International Centre at Bournemouth International Centre on October 03, 2025 in Bournemouth, England. (Getty Images)Getty Images <\/p>\n
\u201cMy little organisation, the Camden People\u2019s Alliance, had an agreement, an alliance with the Greens, so we stood in two wards and won a councillor where the Greens did not stand\u2026 I like the idea of local politics driving radical politics in the country going forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But despite coming second at the last general election,\u00a0Feinstein said\u00a0he did not want to be a candidate at the by-election: \u201cI am 62 years old, why do we need another white old man in Parliament?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have so many more incredible talented much younger people in an incredibly diverse borough like Holborn and St Pancras, that there has got to be someone far better than me out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do feel a very deep responsibility to ensuring that [the candidate] is the anti-Keir Starmer,” he added in the clip, which he shared on social media this week.<\/p>\n
A Green Party official confirmed \u201ceveryone in the party is behind\u201d Polanski but\u00a0local members have the final say over the candidate.<\/p>\n
Some in the Green Party have suggested that the candidate should be Palestinian, while others could want a more local choice.<\/p>\n
The JC has seen WhatsApp messages in the Green For Palestine group in which one activist stated: \u201cA strong Palestinian campaigner would be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another suggested two named Palestinian activists in the group: \u201cWould either of you, as British Palestinians, consider standing in Holborn & St Pancras? I\u2019d love to help elect a Green Palestinian,\u201d the activist said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny other Palestinians in this chat, do consider it, and I\u2019ll help as much as I can to help win the seat,\u201d the activist added in a separate message.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Green councillor for Holborn and Covent Garden, Hamza Chowdhury, said\u00a0that he did not know who the best fit for the candidacy was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was elected in May with a landslide win against Labour at 13,000 votes and the by-election is coming in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeir Starmer resigned. What\u2019s my take? Can we smash it? Probably yeh, statistically yeh. We need some graft, we need a lot of help, we need a lot of work, I did it once, we can do it again,\u201d Chowdhury said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s best fit? I don\u2019t know. Still in the process. People are coming forward still. Do we need an ethnic minority? Do we need someone from north, someone from south? Do we need someone straight from Holborn?\u201d<\/p>\n
Polanski lives in Hackney and had been expected to target a parliamentary seat in north east London.<\/p>\n
But announcing his plans to run in Starmer\u2019s patch\u00a0in the Camden New Journal, he told the paper that he previously lived in Holborn and St Pancras: \u201cIt represents so many of the things that make London so special.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was in Hatton Garden on Thursday, telling media: \u201cI love this constituency; it is somewhere where I have lived several times.”<\/p>\n
Dame Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South, Finsbury and De Beauvoir, reminded her followers on X that Polanski had previously run for office in Camden when he was a Liberal Democrat.<\/p>\n
She quipped: \u201cI\u2019m not usually one to defend Zack Polanski, but the idea he doesn\u2019t have at least one single connection to Camden is just nonsense. Look, here he is standing for the council there in 2015\u2026 as a Lib Dem\u2026 during the austerity coalition\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not usually one to defend Zack Polanski, but the idea he doesn\u2019t have at least one single connection to Camden is just nonsense.<\/p>\n
Look, here he is standing for the council there in 2015\u2026 as a Lib Dem\u2026 during the austerity coalition\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/lgq3dliewb<\/a><\/p>\n