Why we need a leadership ‘campaign’ and not just an election

Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay have kicked off the leadership election campaign in earnest, by launching their campaign websites this week. This has sparked off comment on a number of blogs, including reviews by Jim Jepps here and here, Peter Cranie and this from Douglas Johnson.

Back in the party, the start of the campaign has created a debate about how our internal democracy should work. Some people are concerned that we must do everything possible to create a ‘level playing field’ for candidates. They want very restricted campaigning activities to protect this worthy goal, even though this approach is likely to simply favour incumbents and known party figures rather than allowing challengers a chance.

Just as a simple example, if you wanted to mount a genuine challenge to Caroline Lucas, you would need to be able to contact members directly, by phone, post or even by foot, to make your case.

Some people are nervous about allowing direct contact with the membership: but I think it is the very foundation of democracy to be able to talk to the people with the votes.

Without direct contact, members are left to make their choice by name recognition, what they hear in the media and dull looking official statements.

This can only favour established candidates, and disenfranchise the challengers that the old, limited-campaigning rules are supposed to help. It also reduces turn out.The truth is that the Green Party, despite its annual elections and extraordinary internal openness, is not actually very practiced in the idea of contesting internal elections. But we should, as politicians, test our leaders’ ability to get themselves elected before giving them responsibility.

Our culture needs a real sense of mass engagement with our mass membership. This does require a much more direct and ambitious sort of internal election, particularly for the leadership.

Having created a leadership, they need a mandate, which can only come from talking to the electorate – our membership – and getting a decent vote.

An extraordinarily strong example of this is Caroline’s call for a full slate at the next general election. This is an idea that needs discussion, and to work, the enthusiastic backing of the party. That’s what elections can do, they can generate enthusiasm for a programme that a candidate stands for, and they thereby empower the whole membership to make genuine choices.

I am proud that the Green Party is a democratic party, and I hope it makes these steps in genuine party-wide engagement successfully: it will help us transform ourselves and our chances at the ballot box, by deepening and strengthening our democracy.

Jim Killock's site