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Turnout | 2,769 (37.9%) | ||||||||||||
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The 2008 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election took place in September 2008 to select the first leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. It was won by Caroline Lucas who received 92.4% of the vote. At the same time, Adrian Ramsay was elected unopposed as the party's first deputy leader.
Prior to the leadership election, the Green Party had two spokespeople called principal speakers instead of leaders. Lucas had been the female principal speaker of the party from 2003–2006 and from 2007–2008.
From the formation of the Green Party of England and Wales in 1990 until 2008, the party had elected spokespeople called principal speakers instead of leaders. From 1990 to 1992, the party had six principal speakers and from 1992 to 2008, the party had two principal speakers: one male and one female.
In November 2007, the party held an internal referendum on whether they should replace the system of principal speakers with a single leader. The party's female speaker, Caroline Lucas, supported introducing a single leader, as did the party activists Tony Juniper and Jonathon Porritt. [1] The party's male principal speaker, Derek Wall, opposed the change, as did Jenny Jones, one of the party's two members of the London Assembly. The other Assembly Member, Darren Johnson, ran the campaign in favour of moving to a leadership model. [1]
The referendum required two-thirds of members to vote in favour in order to be effective. 73% of party members voted in favour of the change. The new system would involve leaders serving for two year terms, for a maximum of five terms. [2]
Caroline Lucas, one of the party's principal speakers and a Member of the European Parliament, launched a campaign for the leadership on 14 July 2008. [3] The other candidate for the leadership was the actor Ashley Gunstock. [4]
Only one candidate stood for the deputy leadership. Adrian Ramsay was the leader of the Green group on Norwich City Council. He was supported Lucas, and under party gender balance rules, he could only be elected to the post if a woman was elected to the leadership. [5]
Nominations for both the leadership and deputy leadership closed on 31 July 2008, after which ballot papers were distributed. [3] In order to assist candidates with canvassing, the party's Standing Orders Committee decided to release the contact details of 7,000 members to the candidates. More than 100 party members signed a protest letter which questioned whether this publication was legal under the Data Protection Act. The issue became moot when all three candidates declined to request contact details. [6]
Hustings took place at the party's conference, and the results were announced on 5 September.
The turnout was 37.9% of a membership of 7,565. This was an increase from the 20% turnout for the 2007 election of principal speakers.
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Caroline Lucas | 2,559 | 92.4% | |
Ashley Gunstock | 210 | 7.6% | |
Turnout | 2,769 | 37.9% |
Adrian Ramsay was elected unopposed as deputy leader.
The Green Party of England and Wales is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Headquartered in London, Siân Berry has served as acting leader since August 2021. The Green Party currently has one representative in the House of Commons and two in the House of Lords. It also has hundreds of councillors at the UK local government level and three members of the London Assembly.
Caroline Patricia Lucas is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elected in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections, increasing her majority each time.
The Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales is the most senior political figure within the Green Party of England and Wales. The role was introduced alongside that of Deputy Leader in 2008. Prior to this, the party's public spokespersons were Principal Speakers. There were two Principal Speakers, one female and one male, who were elected annually at the Green Party's Autumn Conference and held no vote on the Green Party Executive (GPEx).
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Derek Norman Wall is a British politician and former member of the Green Party of England and Wales. He was the joint International Coordinator for the Green Party and stood against Prime Minister Theresa May as the Maidenhead Green candidate in the 2017 general election. Formerly the party's Principal Speaker, he is known as a prominent eco-socialist, campaigning both for environmentalism and socialism. Alongside his political role, Wall is an academic and a writer, having published on the subject of ecosocialism and the wider Green politics movement. He is a contributor to the Morning Star newspaper and a blogger.
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Ashley Gunstock is a British Green Party politician and actor. He unsuccessfully ran against Caroline Lucas to become the first leader of the Green Party in 2008 and is currently a candidate in the 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election.
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The Green Party of England and Wales has its roots in the PEOPLE Party started in Coventry in 1972/3 by four professional friends. It then changed its name to the more descriptive Ecology Party in 1975, and to the Green Party ten years later. In the 1990s, the Scottish and Northern Ireland wings of the Green Party in the United Kingdom decided to separate amicably from the party in England and Wales, to form the Scottish Green Party and the Green Party in Northern Ireland. The Wales Green Party became an autonomous regional party and remained within the new Green Party of England and Wales.
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