Zack Polanski falsely claimed to have worked for Ministry of Justice

However, the MoJ said they had no record of Mr Polanski ever working for the department.

When asked about the claim by The Telegraph, a spokesman for Mr Polanski said he had worked for the "justice assessment committee”, which he described as “a programme to improve the diversity of justice appointments based in the MoJ”.

However, the only known public reference to the committee appears to be a comment made by Mr Polanski himself during a City Hall meeting in 2024.

When challenged about this, he conceded that, rather than working for the MoJ directly, he had been hired through an agency that supplied actors for role-play scenarios to a quango responsible for interviewing would-be judges.

He had been hired from Kreate, a third-party agency which supplies actors for role-play scenarios to the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), a non-departmental body.

While the JAC is sponsored by the MoJ, it operates independently and its employees are not employed by the department. Mr Polanski's spokesman said his work for the JAC was covered by a non-disclosure agreement, which prevented him from speaking about further details.

GB News has contacted the Green Party for comment.

Taking to social media this morning, Mr Polanski said he had: "Great memories of working inside the Ministry of Justice doing actor roleplay work, many of my former colleagues have remained friends!"

Since becoming leader of the Greens last year, Mr Polanski has overseen a boom in party membership, surging to over 215,000.

At last week's local elections, the Greens enjoyed success in former Labour heartlands, taking control of Hackney, Lewisham and Waltham Forest, plus Norwich and Hastings councils. He said: "We’re replacing failing Labour and ready to take on Reform. If you want to help: Join the Greens."

However, while the party continues to rise in the polls and perform well at the polling stations, Mr Polanski has come under increasing scrutiny over his background from opposition politicians.

Last week, he acknowledged he was wrong to say during his leadership campaign he was a spokesman for the British Red Cross.

He told the BBC: "I hosted various fundraisers for the British Red Cross, and indeed I would go on stage and speak for them about the amazing work they do tackling humanitarian crises, on the climate crisis, and indeed, for refugees all around the world.

"I used the wrong word, and I accept that, but I would essentially take words on stage with me and speak. It’s important, though, and I accept this, that they don’t support any political party, and I’ve made sure that’s been taken down."

Mrs Badenoch said it called Mr Polanski’s judgment into question.

She said: “I think that Zack Polanski is a man who is in over his head. He clearly thinks that politics is just something fun to do, I don’t think he’s thought through his views particularly.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Maybe Polanski’s a fantasist. I’m not sure."

When asked whether his own CV was "clear of anything", Mr Farage told reporters: "How many years has my CV been looked at in public? I would suggest it’s been going on for at least 15 years."

Writing on his personal website in 2020, he said: "For the last 10 years I’ve fully immersed myself in the capital’s job economy...I’ve worked as an actor, a teacher, counsellor and trainer in schools, universities, mental health services and prisons."

A spokesman for Mr Polanski also explained that he taught in drama schools, and that his work as a "trainer in schools" consisted of working for an organisation "that would help secondary school students revise for GCSE exams and wellbeing along with providing mental health support".

Most notably, Mr Polanski worked as a hypnotherapist and offered a session in 2013 to enlarge the size of a newspaper reporter's bust. He has since apologised for the experiment, which he said he did not charge for and was misrepresented by the newspaper.

On Sunday, a source close to the Green leader said that he is "a real world person who has had many jobs that have helped shape his politics".