Britain is angry at the elite. Knock on doors anywhere in the country and you’ll hear the same thing: politicians are corrupt, they don’t care about me, the system is broken. A recent Ipsos survey found that 70% of people think the system is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful, and 68% want a strong leader to take the country back.
Nigel Farage is taking advantage of this. Reform UK’s leader has successfully tapped into this resentment, directing it away from elites and towards Muslims, migrants and graduates instead. Reform’s popularity surged from 12% in March 2024 to over 25% a year later. Right now, it’s the most popular party in Britain.
The establishment parties aren’t likely to see off this threat. Keir Starmer’s Labour government remains deeply unpopular, and the Tories are in disarray. So who on the parliamentary left can organise this anti-system anger and compete with Reform?
Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France, Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and Bernie Sanders in the US have shown what’s possible. These leaders have pointed fingers at wealth-hoarding billionaires, big corporations and corrupt politicians. They seek out controversy and attention. They’ve built a big, inclusive concept of ‘the people’. The result? Mélenchon could well be the next president of France, López Obrador helped his successor win a landslide, and Sanders remains one of the most popular politicians in the US.
The Green party could do the same. With four MPs, 800 councillors and two million votes in 2024, in England and Wales it’s the most successful left-of-Labour party in recent British history. It came second in 39 constituencies at the last election. It’s built a solid base in rural areas, among urban graduates and – more recently – in Muslim communities, defying its longstanding white, middle-class image. A recent poll even claimed that the Greens are the most favourably viewed party in the country.
The Greens can win over would-be Reform voters too. Talk to any Green canvasser and they’ll tell you stories of meeting frustrated voters who were torn between the two parties. A recent survey of 4,000 potential Reform voters showed that immigration isn’t the top issue for many, and that some are even in favour of more migration. These voters want to fix the cost of living crisis, nationalise key utilities and spend more on the NHS too – issues on which Green voters agree.
But there’s a problem: the Green leadership.
Over half of Green voters in 2024 didn’t know who Carla Denyer was. 86% couldn’t identify Adrian Ramsay. Since the election, both co-leaders have been anonymous. In fact, the party’s only cut-through moment has been Ramsay campaigning against electricity pylons in his own constituency.
Denyer and Ramsay seem like nice people, but that’s precisely the issue. People are angry, and they want leaders who can be angry with them. Policies and promises matter little compared to who people think you are. Are you strong or weak? Are you a fighter? Are you an ordinary person like me, or just another politician? Denyer and Ramsay are more Ed Davey or Starmer than Farage. They lack either the desire or creativity to break the rules, court controversy and make themselves known.
Image and recognition aren’t everything, of course. But leaders must be soldiers in the war for attention. Others can manage the party, build the membership and write policy. Only leaders can go on television and relentlessly conjure the party in people’s minds. When people see a left leader telling the truth and exposing how the system works day in, day out, they’ll trust them to take on the system at election time.
Reform knows this. That’s how the party got 15% of the vote in seats it didn’t even campaign in in 2024. Everyone recognises Farage: he’s the guy on the beach pointing at small boats, or berating politicians in parliament. Everyone has an opinion on him. Meanwhile, 80% of people have no opinion about Denyer or Ramsay at all. In an era when most people’s political experiences are mediated through screens, anonymity is fatal.
The media is stacked against the left, but breakthrough is possible. US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dominated social media for years. Mick Lynch, an older, bald trade unionist, was the UK’s hottest political commentator for a summer. Die Linke surged in the German elections last month, partly due to Heidi Reichinnek’s TikTok presence and her fiery, anti-establishment speeches. The attention economy runs on the likes, clicks, views and comments of real people. Although media barons put their thumbs on the scales, talented leftwing leaders have weight to throw around too.
It’s tempting to try to reshape Denyer and Ramsay, but you can’t make a leader into something they’re not. Jeremy Corbyn was conflict-averse and conciliatory, and no amount of effort from well-meaning staffers could turn him into a poetic firebrand like Mélenchon or an angry uncle like Sanders. Authenticity is key in modern politics, and in a high-pressure role with relatively little support, a fake persona will crumble quickly.
If the Greens find the right people, there’s a clear populist playbook to follow: draw new dividing lines between the people and elites; court controversy and create productive backlash. Boris Johnson did this perfectly when he suspended parliament in 2019, pitting the people who wanted Brexit done against corrupt politicians trying to sabotage his deal. This move united his coalition and split Labour’s down the middle. His prize was obvious. From day one, the 2019 election was called ‘the Brexit election’, and the rest was history.
The good news? The Greens can move fast: there are two leadership elections before 2029 – one this summer, another in two years – and a lively group of socialists are already pushing the party in the right direction. But if they wait, and no new left party emerges, the next election will be dominated by Farage and Reform, and popular anger could crystallise into a dark new common sense.
Joe Todd is an organiser and writer.
