Selecting who runs the Green Party

The traditional parties are increasingly disconnected from the huge challenges facing people and planet, as demonstrated by the historically unprecedented fragmentation of the century-long Tory-Labour duopoly. Having transformed its success over the last 5 years, the Green Party now has an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate that its values, solutions and people are those that frustrated and disenchanted voters are seeking.

Key to whether the Greens can seize this opportunity will be the outcome of the internal elections for the Leadership, Deputy Leadership and Green Party Executive. The roles being contested are collectively critical to whether the Green Party can scale up ahead of the next General Election, challenging all the other main parties (including potentially the new left party) across the whole of England and Wales.

Most of the focus in social and traditional media is on the contest for the leadership, as there is an implicit assumption that the leader role directs the party. This is not true of the Greens, with the leadership roles being really more like principal speaker roles. I therefore want to invert that focus, and start by looking at the Green Party Executive, as this group is vital to the success of the national party. In my next article, I will cover the Leadership roles.

“The Green Party Executive (GPEx) is responsible for the overall and day-to-day direction of the Party.” Members website

GPEx has to run a national-scale political party with 65,000+ members, eking out a minimal budget and other resources (compared to other political parties) to:

• Develop and deliver effective national political strategy, fundraising, comms and supporting functions;

• Support our record number of MPs;

• Support members and activists in local and regional parties with processes, systems, training, and the Field Team, so that they can run ever-increasing numbers of successful Target-to-Win (TTW) election campaigns;

• Support the ever-increasing number of Green councillors, and especially those who are part of an ever-increasing number of local council administrations

• Defend against individuals and organisations who periodically actively work to undermine the party.

Looking ahead, the new GPEx will need to navigate the first real challenge to our positioning as the (much) more progressive alternative to Labour, in the (currently indeterminate) shape of the new left party. Having started my first term as London Regional Coordinator in October 2015, just after the election of Corbyn as Labour leader, I saw firsthand the collapse in membership from over 12,000 in the London region to just over half that by late 2016.

We are in a particularly volatile period, and I therefore expect and trust GPEx to remember the lessons of 2015-16, and to have put in contingency plans to address the positive and negative scenarios that could unfold over the next year or so - ready to seize the opportunities, but also ready to respond to the very real risk of another squeeze.

“Executive members are elected by ballot for two year terms (except for one year casual vacancies).” Members website

Due to the postponement of internal elections to avoid a clash with the General Election, we have an unusual situation whereby some roles have not been contested for three years, and others only two. This means that all GPEx roles are up for election, but those that were not contested last year will only have a one-year term so as to re-establish the cycle of electing half the roles each year, specifically:

• Chair

• Campaigns Co-Ordinator

• Elections Co-Ordinator

• External Communications Co-Ordinator

• International Co-Ordinator

• Management Co-Ordinator

• Trade Union Liaison Officer

A very short section! Despite being terminally online, I have seen only minimal campaigning for any of these roles, but this is unsurprising given that they are not the “glamorous” leadership roles, and is in line with previous GPEx elections.

It is a pity that the only Hustings for these roles won’t be until sometime in mid-August, which will be long after most people have voted (and it isn’t even advertised on the Hustings webpage as yet).

As there are 13 GPEx roles, I have focused on the roles that I feel are particularly important and/or I have relevant skills and experience (and time!) to make a judgment. On that basis, I will not be making recommendations for:

• International Co-Ordinator

• Management Co-Ordinator

• Equality & Diversity Co-Ordinator

• Policy Development Co-Ordinator

All GPEx roles are voluntary, and individuals who commit to a GPEx role take on a lot of responsibility, stress and workload. For all GPEx roles, I therefore look for someone who can be trusted to work diligently, collegiately and with integrity. I then look at what I think is important for each specific role, what the candidates have said in their statements, and finish with my recommendations, including where it would be better to Re-Open Nominations (“RON”) than select an unsuitable candidate.

“The key purpose of the Executive Chair is to oversee the governance and functioning of the Green Party. This involves ensuring smooth administration, maintaining up-to-date documentation, and building member trust through good practice and transparent decision-making.”

Unsurprisingly, this is a key role, and I think the summary underplays its importance. Having someone with strong facilitation, coordination and servant-leader skills is critical to the effective functioning of GPEx as a whole and how well GPEx works with the Green Party Regional Council (the other national governance forum).

I think that Jon Nott has demonstrated that he understands the constraints and idiosyncrasies of the Green Party, and has helped the Party successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities of the last three years. I am particularly encouraged by his three objectives:

1. Ensure that our membership, candidates, and those serving on our governance bodies, reflect and represent the communities that we serve. We’re making progress, but the multiple crises we face demand that we go further and faster.

2. Increase the resources available to support our elected representatives, candidates, local parties and the central infrastructure that enables both the achievement of our political objectives and our internal democracy. In order to do this we need to double our membership and double the Party’s income (again).

3. During this period of rapid growth and change, we need to ensure our governance meets the needs of the Party now – it’s time to (finally) replace the 1989 constitution with something fit for the current moment. And amidst all this change it is vital that we remain true to our Green values and maintain our grassroots, member-led, democratic and inclusive culture.

Conversely, I feel that Judy Maciejowska is too focused on process and governance, and is not focused on further growing the party into the alternative to the cynical, dead-end politics offered by the other parties.

On that basis, I recommend:

• First choice: Jon Nott

• Second choice: RON

“The Campaigns Co-ordinator convenes and works with the Campaigns Committee (elected at Conference) on issue-based campaigns which are aligned with Green Party policy. These campaigns will further our overall objectives and engage and support the membership. “

Our issue-based campaigning has improved over the last few years (e.g. the development of “flatpacks” with easy-to-use materials), and I hope that we can continue to use and improve these approaches. I note, however, that we do not currently have any Petitioning functionality available, and hope whoever is elected can work with the Digital team to remedy this, as it is a key way to build the email lists which will be increasingly important for fighting Mayor elections (a lesson I learned on multiple London Mayor and Assembly campaigns).

I am concerned by Haydn Osborne-Brookes stating he will be “…focused on economic justice”. As a Green, I believe that social justice and environmental sustainability are intrinsically linked, and we must campaign on that basis and be aware of the tradeoffs and constraints. We cannot be selling fantasy “economic justice” solutions that might look good locally and/or in the short term, but which ignore their environmental consequences, and so could hurt vulnerable people globally and/or hurt future generations and/or further accelerate the Sixth Extinction.

Asma Alam seems to me to be much clearer on the scope of real Green campaigning, and seems to have good campaigning experience, so I recommend:

• First choice: Asma Alam

• Second choice: RON

“The role exists to ensure the Green Party’s electoral objectives, as defined in the Political Strategy, are achieved, to represent the members and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally.”

Another key role where the summary underplays its importance. We have worked hard to build an election-winning machine within the constraints of the electoral, financial and media environment in which we operate. We do need to grow, improve and evolve that machine, but we must not kid ourselves that those wider constraints can somehow magically be overcome.

Brian Candeland is right to call out that the election campaign process went well overall under his leadership, and we should always take into account that we were looking at potentially zero MPs in winter 2023-4, so getting four MPs was a massive triumph for the party. But I did feel the General Election manifesto was a missed opportunity, and in fact let us down in a number of areas (a topic for another article). Looking ahead, I agree with his priorities, but I want more confidence that he has the drive to see them delivered - from the outside, it doesn’t feel like there has been all that much progress in the year since the General Election

I am afraid that Faaiz Hasan & Nicola Day do not fill me with confidence. Picking an area I know well, they highlight that in London we only have 1.1% of the councillors (well 1.6% right now). They seem to miss the context that in London in 2022, Labour “…achieve[d] their best result in over 45 years”. So I think given the massive Labour majorities in most of the wards where we placed second, and the high churn of voters in those wards, not doing so well under FPTP was entirely explicable. A better metric to understand our strength in London was achieving third place in the 2016, 2021 and 2024 London Mayor and Assembly Elections. I do not feel convinced by their ability to analyse and understand what drives election results in different locales and under different conditions.

Turning to their plans, they sound great on the surface, but in the absence of any explantion how they will actually “…build a coalition grounded in youth, working-class, and Global Majority (GM) voters…”, other than through the (sole?) focus on “economic justice and housing” (see my comments on this re. the Campaigns Co-Ordinator role, above), they have not convinced me that they are achievable. The idea that after winning, we can then create “…Residents Associations, issue specific Resident-Led Steering Groups, Citizens and People’s Assemblies” again sounds great, but there is no indication how local parties already stretched to deliver TTW campaigns will find the time and money to deliver that.

My recommendations are:

• First choice: Brian Candeland (with some reservations)

• Second choice: RON

“The role exists to represent the members and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally and specifically through providing a leadership and advice on Finance issues, supporting the other GPEx members to fulfil their financial responsibilities. The role holder will often, but not always, act as the Party Treasurer.”

As a qualified accountant myself, and especially given how tight our finances have been in recent years, I think it is important to have a qualified accountant in this role, and on that basis I am keen to see Julian Cusack continue as Finance Co-Ordinator, and look forward to him:

“…supporting our donor fund-raising efforts, further developing our IT and digital infrastructure and shaping our budget to focus on scaling up the party’s communications and electoral activities.”

• First Choice: Julian Cusack

“The Internal Communications Co-ordinator aims to enhance and maintain effective communication channels within the Green Party. This includes overseeing internal publications, improving member engagement, and ensuring the members’ website is a useful resource for all party activities.”

In my view, internal comms needs to fulfil three main functions:

• “Broadcast” comms to less active members aimed at engaging and activating them;

• Supporting officers and activists to proactively communicate, collaborate and organise;

• Supporting governance of the national party through communicating the work of GPEx and the Green Party Regional Council.

Broadcast comms has historically been mainly done via email, bolstered by some fundraising phone banking. Given our relatively low rate of TTW activism in the 2024 General Election, I’d like to see the Internal Comms role prioritise helping local parties increase this for the May 2026 elections.

While there have been a few exceptions, e.g. the use of Slack for the 2015 General Election and 2016 London Mayor and Assembly election, and more recently WhatsApp groups e.g. for the 2024 London Mayor and Assembly election and the General Election, the national party has not had a sustained and effective collaboration platform. Even Green Spaces, the national party’s ongoing, basic (and hence perennially underused) platform, has recently been shut down.

So with only one candidate for this role, in Vix Lowthion we at least have one I am happy to recommend, and I look forward to her delivering on her commitments to:

• Engaging more members – they are our biggest resource & we must do all we can to harness that power

• Embracing new initiatives – we cannot be afraid to try new methods & I would like to see more innovation in our communications

• Developing our members’ website – it is central to how we operate as a party & supports so much of the work we do.

• Keeping everyone updated – whether that’s through emails, meetings, document sharing and other methods.

Finally, I welcome Vix’s commitment to improve communication about GPEx, which I hope can be extended to cover the Green Party Regional Council. I just hope the national party can find the time and money to set up an effective new collaboration platform.

“The role exists to represent and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally and specifically through providing leadership to and creating a dialogue between the Executive, local party Trade Union Liaison Officers and the Green Party Trade Union Group in order to inform strategy development and decision-making.

There are two key dimensions: external focus across the Union movement and internal focus within the party.”

Personally, I don’t think this should be a GPEx role (controversial - I know), but in all the years it has existed, as far as I am aware we have never enticed even a single trade union to provide any material level of support or endorsement for the Greens, and with the new left party in the offing, I don’t think that is going to change.

But as it exists, and as the role-share candidates for this have solid trade union experience, I am happy to recommend Kate Jones & Paul Valentine for this role.

“The role exists to represent the members and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally and specifically through ensuring a strategic approach to Green Party publications which accords with the party’s broader strategy.”

Maybe I’ve missed it, but in the period since Green World ceased publishing (print or online), I have to confess that I don’t really know what this role has been doing.

On that basis, at least David Lloyd seems to have some ideas how to invigorate it, so:

• First choice: David Lloyd

• Second choice: Edward Milford

For the following two roles, I’ve decided to reserve judgement until I hear from the candidates at the GPEx Hustings - but here are my reflections at this stage.

“The role exists to represent the members and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally and specifically through providing a leadership steer to the external communications of the Party.”

Despite being terminally online, I would only claim to be good at consuming social and traditional media, not in creating it, so I was in two minds about assessing this role, but decided it was too important not to. Having decided to do so, I first want to note that the role isn’t itself about generating memes/copy, but obviously having experience in social and traditional media would be a clear advantage.

Although Laura Manston states she has “20 years of communications experience”, I can’t see any indication what/where that was. Of the other two candidates, Dan Johnston focuses on social media, while Jonathan Kent focuses on traditional media (a joint candidacy might have been ideal!) On looking at Dan’s social media, he hasn’t got particularly high audience numbers, and so I want to see more evidence of actual success. Jonathan’s track record in more traditional media can only be taken at face value, but I do remember the “Hello Boys” campaign.

“The role exists to represent the members and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally and specifically through providing support to local parties including communicating national strategy and policy for use by Local Parties.”

There are elements in all three candidates’ statements that I agree with, notably around the importance of better training, better digital tools, and addressing the issue of withheld capitations. I think Rosie Rawle has a good understanding of the role, and I support her first two objectives, but as mentioned in the Elections Co-Ordinator role, I would need convincing that local parties that barely manage to keep TTW campaigns running could find the time and money to do movement building as well. Also, as Rosie has been in this role for two terms already, I’d have liked to know more about what was actually delivered over that time.

I hope these are useful assessments and I provide them in good faith - if anyone thinks I’ve missed or misunderstood something material, I’d appreciate the feedback (as much as anything to help me refine my own thinking on who to vote for!) and I will update accordingly.

Turning again to the context, the party and hence GPEx will need to be prepared to make long-term plans and make early, big decisions so we are as well placed as we can be for the next General Election. But equally, we will need to be agile enough that we can respond to the hugely volatile political environment.

We specifically face the rise of some form of (eco-)socialist party that threatens to overshadow us - if we are seen as just a slightly greener version of that new left party, why bother supporting the Greens? But if we really believe in our Core Values and in what I understand to be the Green analysis of the challenges the UK and world face over the next decade, then we need to make the case that all other parties can only ever be unsustainable, infinite-growth, exploitative and hence not socially just.

Yet we have lacked for at least the last decade the combination of confidence and skill to really communicate that differentiation to both our members and to the public, and this has meant that when a party has started to occupy our political space (e.g. Labour under Corbyn), our membership and vote have been squeezed.

But (unless I missed it), there is no mention of any form of fundamental political education for members in any of the candidate statements. And with regard to external comms, the aspects that (rightly) set the Greens apart are only partially identified as differentiators and as messages to campaign on. If we don’t start addressing this ASAP, we risk being squeezed again by this new left party. GPEx therefore needs to choose to prioritise the internal and external messaging needed, and learn the broader lessons from the 2015 Green Surge and the painful 2016 crash

Finally, whatever the next stage of the party’s evolution ends up being, we need a root-and-branch renewal of the processes and systems that we use to run our campaigning and govern our party, to help ensure that we can scale to support our (hopefully still) growing party, and I have recommended candidates that recognise and prioritise that. One particular bright point is the recognition of the importance of having canvassing software available (watch this space in October😉!)