Who should be the next Green Party Leader(s)?
By: Rupert Read
Tags: Green Party, UK Politics, Green Party Leadership

The Green Party of England and Wales is about to begin voting for a new leader. This is perhaps the strongest field of candidates that we have had for a while, and it looks likely to be an incredibly competitive contest. The party should be proud that there are several candidates who would excel in this job. Fortunately, the election allows you to rank your preferences by descending order of all the candidates who you think worth voting for. Which this time is surely loads of them!

The key thing to consider, to >frame< adequately the question of how to vote in this important election, is this: >>What is the role of the Green Party now that we are IN the era of climate and ecological emergency?<< Responding adequately to that question will indicate to us the kind of person(s) we should choose to lead us.

It is no longer credible to suppose that the Green Party is going to run the UK soon, and that everything will then be OK. We are IN the era of climate disasters, and the Green Party is still distant from power at the UK level (We are just getting our first sniff of power in Scotland).

This implies, as per the GreensCAN analysis , that it is time for the Party to combine bold electoral ambition with ruthless honesty as to where we now are (I mean both as a species and as a political Party!), and to be willing, as a result, to advocate a broader-than-merely-electoral platform now for our actions.

With this context in place, here then are my musings on who you might vote for (or who, at any rate, I’ll be voting for):

Tina Rothery is brilliant. She is the real deal. As Donnachadh MacCarthy has pointed out in the Indy, she fits well the kind of profile for leadership sketched above, at this terrible and epochal moment in history. I’ve worked alongside Tina recently as part of the Greens Climate Activist Network. I have been deeply impressed with her authenticity, her commitment to winning, and her ability to speak powerfully. As a grassroots activist, she helped achieve a huge victory on fracking. She could achieve more still, as a leader of the Green Party. In my view, she deserves a high preference from you.

Dr Shahrar Ali is a philosopher like me. I have a deep respect for his strong sense of integrity and tremendous speaking abilities. I’ve known and worked with him for many years, and recently we founded Greens Climate Activist Network (GreensCAN) together. In facing up to climate reality (alongside me and Tina — and many of you), Shahrar certainly provides a much-needed reality-check. He too deserves a high preference from you.

Amelia Womack and Tamsin Omond also deserve an honourable mention. I’ve worked with them both for several years. They have real strengths and are more than capable of doing the job. If they win, I’ll look forward to continuing to work with them. But they won’t be getting my highest preferences, because I harbour some nagging doubts about their weight for the very demanding position of Leader, and also about their ability to unify the Party (I think Tina or Adrian would be best placed to do that) around the key objective of responding as adequately as we can to the eco-emergency.

My number 1 preference, like that of most of our existing and past Parliamentarians, will be going to Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer.

What the Green Party needs more than anything right now are effective communicators who can bring the party together, and who will focus on our Party’s essential mission at this moment in history. Adrian Ramsay has these qualities. I have known and worked closely with him since before he could vote. He has always been a superb electoral campaigner and a completely unflusterable media performer. He has been my teacher in these matters much more than I have been his! He is also someone who consistently brings out the best in the team around him. When he and I helped create the epic growth of Norwich Green Party, I saw that quality in him in spades. Adrian is a truly safe pair of hands to co-lead the Green Party. This should be Adrian’s time.

Rupert Read, Caroline Lucas, and Adrian Ramsay

As for Carla Denyer: if we are serious about getting more MPs elected, then we really must make this talented person our co-leader. She is our target candidate in Bristol West and our best prospect for another MP at the next election. If we make her our co-leader, then we will boost her profile and help win that extra seat in parliament. The media will be far more interested in her candidacy and the constituency if we make this wise strategic move. Just as we made Caroline Lucas our leader to get her into Westminster, we should do the same with Carla. Carla initiated the world’s first Climate Emergency declaration on Bristol Council. Imagine what she could do in Westminster.

It’s time for the Green Party to focus on achieving unity around the objective of preventing eco-catastrophe, to the extent that this is still possible. This objective puts everything else in the shade.

All those I’ve here named deserve to be present in your ordering of candidates for leader. Let’s choose wisely how to order them!