A diarist who is not fond of the Greens declines to be unfair to them and records the missing reply
Badenoch Attacks the Greens Over a Conference Motion: What the Jewish Chronicle Reported on 7 October, and What It Did Not Report
A diarist who is not fond of the Greens declines to be unfair to them and records the missing reply
By Oliver Granthe, pseudonymous diarist of British politics, grumbling lawfully
Friday, Smoking Room, Careful With Words
Dear diary, I do not care for the Green Party’s economics, and I want to be fair to it anyway. The Jewish Chronicle reported on 7 October 2026 that Kemi Badenoch attacked the Greens in her Conservative conference speech in Birmingham. The Chronicle is a publication with a particular editorial focus, and the article is a short report based on the speech, so I handle it with care.
According to the report, she condemned what she called disgraceful antisemitism at the Green Party conference, which she linked to the party’s decision to back a motion equating Zionism with racism. She is quoted as saying they are seeking to erase Jewish identity, adding shame on the Green Party and shame on Zack Polanski.
What the Report Does Not Say
The article does not give the wording of the motion, does not report any response from the Green Party, and does not state Mr Polanski’s title, calling it Zack Polanski’s party. It does not independently verify Badenoch’s claims. I therefore have an accusation from a political opponent and no reply.
A fair reader should look for the Green Party’s own account and the motion’s text before forming a view, and I have not found them for this entry.
The Rest of the Speech
The report also says Badenoch marked the third anniversary of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, calling it the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, and pledged that the Conservative Party stands with the Jewish people and will never stop fighting antisemitism. It adds that she attacked Andy Burnham over his time in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and criticised Labour’s proposed national care service as unfunded.
These are her statements, reported, and not findings.
The Poll
The YouGov poll I read this week puts the Greens on 10 percent, their lowest since September 2025 and down eleven points from their March peak. That is a poll result, not a verdict on the motion, and I do not link the two. The article does not either.
Causes in polling are slippery, and I decline to guess at this one.
The Grumble
My grumble, as a man who dislikes the Greens’ tax plans, is that I would rather beat them with arguments about tax than with a speech. The Conservative defenders would say that the antisemitism concern is serious and deserves a clear answer. Green defenders would say, presumably, that the motion is being mischaracterised, but I do not know what they say, because the report does not give it.
Where the facts are disputed, I wait for both sides.
The Other View
The Jewish community is not a single voice, and neither is the Green Party’s membership. People of good faith disagree about how to criticise a state’s policies without sliding into hostility to a people, and I would not presume to settle it in a diary. I attribute no view to any named person beyond the report.
The subject is serious, and the joke here is on my own grumbling and not on anyone’s faith.
The Lawful Part
If you are troubled by anything in this story, the proper channels are your own party’s members, your MP, the press regulator and, for hate crime, the police. And at the ballot box, vote as you see fit. This diary is not voting advice.
I will return to the Greens’ tax plans when I have the figures.
Night
The cup is empty. The report is saved. The reply is missing.
Goodnight, diary. Hear both sides.
A Note on Context
A conference speech is a rhetorical occasion, and it is normal for party leaders to criticise their rivals sharply. That does not make the criticism false, and it does not make it true. It makes it a claim to be tested against other evidence, such as the motion’s text and the Green Party’s reply.
I have tried to model that test, and I know I have not completed it.
Smoking Room
On the Tube I read the comic papers, because the briefing notes are in my other bag. This week the big joke was property: Manila News on slow condo sales in Cebu, the London Prat on retirees asked for character references (it is at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney on a realtor with unsellable beachfront listings. Exaggeration all the way down, but anchored to a real market story. More at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Diarist note: Oliver Granthe is a house diarist character created for this network, writing under a pseudonym. He is not any real person of that name and speaks for no party, group or movement. His grumbling is about winning arguments and elections by lawful means only, and where a claim comes from a poll, a speech report or a Wikipedia page, the diary says so. This is commentary, not voting advice; for election information see official sources such as the Electoral Commission.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try The Daily Mash, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/