On Monday 27 April, the former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls interviewed Green Party leader Zack Polanski. The reason a former shadow chancellor conducted this interview is because the UK has a revolving door between establishment politics and the establishment media.
As Polanski is one of few politicians who will point this out, the appearance ended up being pretty embarrassing for Balls:
So #GMB spent their entire interview with @ZackPolanski asking him about policies that aren’t Green party policy & aren’t in the manifesto for Mays elections, along with a story from the scum about Zack before he was a politician
Zack: “This is why people hate the media”
pic.twitter.com/nuphPCF8fY
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 27, 2026
Balls up thanks to Polanski
As Saul Staniforth noted, Ed Balls was particularly hung up on policies which aren’t Green Party policies. In one clip, a smirking Balls said:
It looks like you’re doing a bit of a Nigel Farage here, Mr. Polanski. Last year, Reform did very well in the Runcorn-Helsby by-election and then started ditching their tax policies. You did very well in the Gorton and Denton by-election a couple of months ago, and now you are telling us you’re going to be ditching some of your longstanding Green policies.
Polanski responded:
We’re not actually ditching any policies – the story isn’t true.
If it’s not true, how does he explain Balls’s self-assured smirk?
Polanski continued:
Our members vote on our policies and then we decide the manifesto that we put towards the public.
Clutching several sheets of A4 paper, Balls hit back:
So you told Politico that you were looking to revise… your party’s democratise [sic] and at times chaotic and unwieldy system which lets members set the policy agenda. So I assume you wanted to do that in order that you could change the policy.
Polanski explained:
No, I don’t want to change the policies. I want a more democratic system because Green Party members decide Green Party policy. And at the moment we have 226,000 members and it’s growing. And so we need to look at more agile systems.
Balls later said:
A Green Party official says right now it’s like we’ve got a list of policies for the Daily Mail to ring us up about.
Balls was smirking again. Because he’s a Labour guy, he probably doesn’t understand that a left-wing politician is able to hold positions which are at odds with the right-wing gutter press.
The Green Party leader responded:
I don’t care what the Daily Mail ringers up about I want to challenge more millionaires and billionaires in this country so of course the Daily Mail won’t like that
Labour’s man
In another section, Polanski highlighted that Balls is a beneficiary of the revolving door:
Well done to @ZackPolanski for calling out the fact he was being interviewed by a former Lab minister & husband of the current foreign secretary!
Since the start of this year #GMB is produced by @itvnews. How can they think this is tenable?
Oh & Ed took it in good grace (not) pic.twitter.com/SJgDBAzkif
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 27, 2026
Polanski said:
Do you know what I’m enjoying? The fact that a Labour politician who’s married to a senior Labour minister is allowed to ask questions of a leader of the Green Party. This is not our manifesto and what you’re doing is an entire stitch up, and people will see it for this.
Balls’s wife is Yvette Cooper, by the way – the current foreign secretary. We assume she didn’t take his name because she didn’t want to be called ‘Yvette Balls’. Honestly, he probably should have taken her name.
Mr Balls responded by dramatically asking:
Are you accusing me of being a Labour politician?
He also said:
Yeah. Look, unfortunately, Mr. Polanski, I lost my seat in 2015 and I’ve not been a Labour politician for 10 years.
Balls clearly thought this was very clever, but it won’t wash with anyone who has more than two brain cells.
It’s ok for a tv presenter to support one or another political party, although in Balls’ case the links are particularly deep.
What’s not ok is being totally unable to cope with that being pointed out, losing your cool entirely, & claiming it somehow isn’t true?!
https://t.co/LSktRPb6Ng
— Zoe Gardner (@ZoeJardiniere) April 27, 2026
People do hate the media
Balls was once a Labour politician who sat as an MP; now he’s a Labour politician who sits as a daytime TV host. In both situations, he used his position to pursue political aims. That’s literally what he was doing in his interview with Polanski.
This everyday dishonesty is why people hate politicians and media figures, and as someone who’s functionally both, Balls deserves a double dollop of your disrespect – as Polanski showed.
Featured image via GMB
By Willem Moore
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