Greens protest dumping of GE candidate in identity politics stitch-up

The Green Party of England and Wales is echoing Labour with its own mini-purge.

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By Alan Story   

An emergency hustings of the Sheffield Green Party was picketed Wednesday evening (29 May) after the party’s leadership dumped a general election candidate who members had chosen in September 2022, but who has never been given a chance over 19 months to challenge a complaint that she was transphobic.

“What a godawful mess”, said one local Green activist.    

Members began voting for a new candidate to replace Alison Teal in the Sheffield Central constituency after a former leader of Sheffield Greens said it was “not okay” to choose a new replacement candidate over Teal for the 4 July election.  Teal has been suspended since 25 October 2022 … and remains so.  

“This selection ballot for Sheffield Central is unnecessary, divisive, and undemocratic,” said former leader Rob Murphy in a statement passed out at the meeting. (See copy of the leaflet below).  A senior member of the Standing Orders Committee of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) has also concluded the second candidate selection vote is unconstitutional.

But Douglas Johnson, who holds the posts of both leader of the 14-member Green councillor’s group on Sheffield City Council and co-chair of the local party executive, ruled the second internal vote could go ahead. The results will be announced on Saturday.  

What’s the difference between the Greens and Labour?

"It is getting harder and harder to distinguish the authoritarianism and top-downism in the Greens from that practiced by Starmer and Labour," said one disgruntled GPEW member at the end of the two-hour meeting." A number of long-time GPEW member are being suspended in the deepening identity politics rift across both England and in the separate Scottish Green Party.  

This development in Sheffield is occurring at the same time as Keir Starmer is in the process of purging at least three Labour Party MPs and blocking a fourth candidate. Here is one media report. More will fill the airwaves, newspapers and social media until at least the weekend.

 “Appalling. Whose clever idea has it been to have a cull of left wingers?” tweeted MP Dianne Abbott on 30 May.  

Read the full background, “ The sad saga of Sheffield Green Alison Teal”, in THE LEFT LANE of 29 May. (It has been the most read of the 23 issues posted since we launched in January 2024.  )

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https://theleftlane2024.substack.com/p/the-sad-saga-of-sheffield-green-alison

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29 May leaflet/ statement of former Green leader at Sheffield City Council.

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Edited by Alan Story, The Left Lane is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber:  http://theleftlane2024.substack.com/subscribe

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