Zack Polanski at the Brighton Hotel

“WHAT a year,” came Zack Polanski’s cry from the stage of the Brighton Hotel, as he addressed the largest ever Green conference audience.

Last weekend, more than 3,500 party members descended on the seaside town for the three-day conference that was heralded as the most significant in Green history.

This is despite the fact that Mr Polanski tried to postpone the entire event until after his crucial by-election campaign in Holborn and St Pancras had ended, but found his hands tied by the ultra-democratic decision-making systems used within the party.

The conference had to go on.

Addressing thousands of people in a bright auditorium, Mr Polanski reeled off the achievements of the last year as cheers and chants came from the adoring crowd below: the Gorton and Denton by-election win, historic results in London Council elections, and a membership now larger than both the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Party.

On paper, it would seem the Greens are flying.

But with an erupting media storm over the “Zionism is Racism” motion and a crucial by-election in Holborn and St Pancras, could they be knocked from their pedestal just as quickly as they got there?

Since passing the motion – first submitted and then voted on by members themselves – on Sunday that “Zionism is Racism” the Greens have gone into ultra-defensive mode. Polanski — who missed the vote— issued a formal statement declaring that “no one will be made unwelcome because of their background, their faith or where they worship”.

It is a brewing crisis that may prove existential to his leadership, but on the floor of the conference, there was nothing but positivity for the parliamentary hopeful.

The Tribune spoke with members, young and old, who said that they buy into the leader’s direction, irrelevant of whatever noise might be heard outside.

He is celebrated by councillors, MPs and members as the man who has elevated the Greens from a fringe party to a political force that can apply genuine pressure to mainstream parties and influence national policy.

Under Andy Burnham’s leadership the Labour Party have pledged renationalisation plans, ordered sanctions on Israel, and called for electoral reform — all of which Polanski’s party has attributed to its own tireless efforts to influence government.

And yet unlike his predecessor, the new Prime Minister has barely mentioned the Green Party.

Instead, he has ploughed ahead with his own set of policies, soaking in the atmosphere that surrounds the so-called Burnham bounce.

No longer do the Green Party have a political enemy giving them headlines or accusing them of dealing class-A drugs in playgrounds.

So where will they go next? Are the Greens a party of genuine governmental ambition, or a pressure party, aimed at pulling Labour further to the left?

If his party still has its eyes on government, Polanski must first weather the current storm he finds himself in. In Brighton, though, there was little sign of it.