Having resigned from the Green Party 6 months ago on a point of principle regarding the introduction of a cuts budget by the Green led council in Brighton, I have not commented on the election for Leader or Deputy Leader of the party. I have given my endorsement, as Chair of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum and a health activist to my friend and colleague on the Coalition of Resistance, Romayne Phoenix, who is also Chair of the Coalition fighting cuts and austerity. I am, of course, following the campaign with some interest, as the outcome will be important for politics and the fight against cuts and austerity in the UK.
I have agreed to post the following from my friend,
Alan Wheatley, with whom I have worked closely on disability and welfare issues, as Alan does not have a blog and wishes to make his comments on one of the candidates public. I am not aware of the background to the issues which Alan raises and would point out that the view expressed is Alan's and not mine as I have not been involved in the party over the period which Alan refers to. Alan has already put these comments on the blog of Stephen Wood, a Green Party blogger
here.
I am one of those who
will be giving #1 vote to Romayne Phoenix, having worked with her on
anti-austerity measures. As well as being a great speaker, Romayne is a very
caring person and great encourager. She is also a survivor who can lend her
experience of hard times to helping build bridges with working class people and
disability benefit claimants. I give my own statement to this effect at the
Romayne & Will website.
And as an ex-member of Camden Green Party who has transferred into Haringey
Green Party without moving out of the Borough of Camden, I note that Natalie
Bennett's behaviour as Chair of Camden Green Party was one of the cues for me
to leave Camden Green Party. For in the London Assembly elections, I observed
that Haringey Green Party welcomed Enfield Green Party member and Enfield &
Haringey constituency candidate Peter Krakowiak to their meetings from the time
that he was elected for the two seat constituency. But Camden Green Party
seemed to ostracise candidate A.M. Poppy from Barnet Green Party, giving her
minimal exposure. As a Camden Green Party member at the time, I objected to the
way that Poppy was not even invited to the launch of the Camden Green Party
campaign. Natalie Bennett responded to me, "Poppy will be included
later." Of all the Camden Green Party leaflets for the London elections,
not one had a photo of Poppy, and a Camden Green Party member told me this
week, "The reason Poppy was sidelined was that she was seen as too abrupt
and abrasive for our borough."
I believe that what Natalie achieved by sidelining Poppy was more space to
raise her own profile as parliamentary candidate -- eg, her own face alongside
that of mayoral candidate Jenny Jones on p. 4 of eve-of-poll leaflet. She was
arguably desperate to raise her profile after getting fewer votes for the whole
parliamentary constituency in 2010 than Cllr Maya deSouza got for one electoral
ward. That was also after Natalie had replaced Adrian Oliver as parliamentary
candidate in mid-term, apparently finding it easier to replace him with herself
than to support him.
These are my own views and observations and I would encourage Green Party
members to do thorough research on all the candidates before voting.
Alan Wheatley
Ex-Spokesperson on Social Security & Social Care,
now with Haringey Green Party while also a mainstay of Kilburn Unemployed
Workers Group.
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