On Wednesday 24 June, the Labour Party and Green Party simultaneously convened in Lambeth’s Agnes Riley Gardens, and Zack Polanski had something to say about it.
These duelling rallies should have been a good opportunity for each side to demonstrate how much support they have. Things didn’t pan out that way, however, because the Labour side retreated from the field:
Great rally this morning in Lambeth!
Bizarre that Labour cancelled their rally an hour after I announced I was coming.
Have they thrown in the towel already?
Vote Green!
https://t.co/1KnAdbnX0c
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) June 24, 2026
Polanski and ‘the Battle for Agnes Riley Gardens’
The battle was covered by Aaron Newbury of the Daily Express. Newbury was in the park to see Andy Burnham. When he got there, however, he was confronted by the following scenes:
On one side of the park we have some local labour members who tell me they are expecting Andy.
On the other side we have about 30 green activists expecting Zack.
— Aaron Newbury (@AJNewbury94) June 24, 2026
Labour councillors told him that PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham was due to address activists in the park. The problem was that Green Party activists were also there, waiting for Zack Polanski. In Newbury’s own words, the situation was “really quite strange”.
A bit later, Newbury posted the following:
Welcome to the Andy Burnham ral…the Green rally? https://t.co/wP6U3aK8Fg pic.twitter.com/54lxpqhcUq
— Aaron Newbury (@AJNewbury94) June 24, 2026
Clearly enjoying the drama, Newbury went on to report:
I’m going to cross the sort of no man’s land between the Green Party behind me and Labour in front of me and see if the Labour officials, who look very nervous because no one’s turning up, are going to talk to me. They’re moving to the other side of the park so I’m guessing there’s like a Labour side of the park and a Green side of the park. We’ll have to find out.
Labour has retreated from the park. They tell me the event was cancelled because of the heat and that has nothing whatsoever to do with the growing number of green party members here. https://t.co/arBP2VlnyU
— Aaron Newbury (@AJNewbury94) June 24, 2026
It wasn’t quite so simple, however, as Newbury later explained:
And just to remind people. This was meant to be a rally with Andy Burnham, but a Labour councillor accidentally sent the invite to several Tory Councillors by mistake.
It was then cancelled for security reasons.
This morning we were told it was cancelled due to a schedule clash.
Then I was told it was actually cancelled because it was too hot.
Retreat!
At one point, someone brought the following to Newbury’s attention:
Burnham’s rally in Clapham tomorrow morning has now been cancelled after
a) Tory councillors were somehow accidentally invited
b) Fears over a pro-Palestine protest turning up https://t.co/WGj4NPKojO— Calgie (@christiancalgie) June 23, 2026
So it seems that Burnham was running scared.
Or, to be more accurate, he was ‘not-showing-up-so-he-doesn’t-have-to-run-off’ scared.
Either way, it doesn’t inspire confidence.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
