Zack Polanski 'falsely claimed to have worked at the Ministry of Justice while standing for election'

By DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 10:45, 11 May 2026 | Updated: 11:00, 11 May 2026 Zack Polanski is facing fresh questions over his honesty after admitting he wrongly claimed to have worked for a government department while running for election. The Green Party leader wrote on a campaign website in 2020 that he was 'currently working at the Ministry of Justice on their training & diversity programmes'. But after it emerged the MoJ had no record of him being an employee he admitted that he had actually been hired as an actor via a temping agency, Kreate, to help a quango appointing judges with role-play scenarios. It comes days after the Green leader was forced to admit he had falsely claimed to be a spokesman for the Red Cross when running to be Green deputy leader in 2022. Mr Polanski is facing wider problems as his party failed to make the impact it wanted in last week's local elections. That came after he was personally embroiled in a row over a street attack that left two British Jews injured.  His personal popularity tumbled after he suggested that police who arrested a suspect carrying a knife at the scene were heavy-handed in subduing him. He is also facing questions over whether he should have paid council tax on a house boat he owned. The Green Party leader wrote on a campaign website in 2020 that he was 'currently working at the Ministry of Justice'. In fact he was a jobbing actor helping a quango with role play The Daily Mail has established that Zack Polanski was registered on the electoral roll at a building in a marina in east London where he kept a narrowboat A spokesman said he used the Olympian 'occasionally' and paid council tax as part of his rent on a flat in East London.  But his partner referred to the boat as their 'amazing home ... for three years' when they put it up for sale for £100,000 online. The advert has since been taken down. The Daily Mail has established that the Green Party leader was registered on the electoral roll at a building in a marina in east London where he kept a narrowboat. Mr Polanski had post delivered to the same marina building and regularly, over a number of years, had laundry collected from the canal barge he shared with his partner, Richie Bryan. Tax expert Dan Neidle said last night that if the boat was their main home they should have been paying council tax on it.  And if it was only used occasionally, as the Greens claimed, he may have been committing a criminal offence in registering to vote somewhere he was not a resident. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.