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. A cabinet minister has branded Zack Polanski a “con artist” in an outspoken attack on the Green Party leader. Housing secretary Steve Reed went on the attack as the Greens continue to enjoy a boost in support under their new left-wing chief. Polanski, who was elected to lead the Greens in September, has vowed that his party will eventually replace Labour on the left of British politics. But in an interview with HuffPost UK, Reed said voters should look at what Polanski, a former actor and hypnotherapist, did before he entered politics to see what kind of person he really is. He said: “ You have to question the morality of an individual who used to make money by pretending he could hypnotise women to get them a bigger bra size. “That is the action of a con artist, not a serious, caring individual.” That is a reference to a report in The Sun in 2013, when a journalist from the paper asked Polanski for a hypnotherapy session to increase her breast size. Speaking to the BBC after being elected the Greens’ new leader, Polanski said: “I apologised for that 12 years ago, and one of my favourite politicians, Tony Benn, often said, ‘I don’t care where you came from, I care where you’re going’.” Elsewhere in the interview, Reed also criticised Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali over comments he previously made about Zecharia Deutsch, a Leeds-based Rabbi and Israeli Defence Force reservist. He said: “We’ve seen some horrific incidents of anti-semitism, both overseas and in this country more recently, and yet Mothin Ali hounded a Rabbi at Leeds University and his family. He called him a lowlife, he called him an animal. “We need to understand that language like that directed at people because of their faith or ethnicity is part of a spectrum that ultimately leads to the outrages that we’ve been seeing across the world.” Asked if the Greens have an anti-semitism problem, Reed said: “I think a lot of the people who were kicked out of the Labour Party for being anti-semites have joined the Green Party with absolutely no checks at all on who was coming in. “If you look at what their deputy leader has been saying and doing to Jewish people, then there’s a problem and they will need to confront that as soon as possible.” Ali defended his comments about Rabbi Deutsch in a BBC interview in October. “I think anyone who participates in a genocide is a danger and should be investigated by the police,” he said. “I don’t believe that British people, people who enjoy the freedoms of this country, should be able to go into a foreign state and participate in genocide.” Polanski has also stood by his deputy, saying “this Rabbi went off to fight for the IDF, he was actively recruiting for people to engage in a genocide”. Related... Zack Polanski Calls For End To Labour's 'Cruel And Heartless' Immigration Policy Exclusive: Green Party Leader Zack Polanski On Why 2026 Will Be The Year Of Hope 'Government Of Cowards!' Zack Polanski Slams Labour For Its Approach To Migration