Da doo Ron Ron, da doo Ron Ron!

Back from 10 days away and to a mountain of post – most of it bills but there is some light relief there too, including the Candidate Statements Booklet for the Green Party Executive Elections 2008!

Within this glossy booklet are the candidate statements for those (and I can only just use the plural here!) standing  for the posts of leader and deputy leader of the Green Party.

This is the first time the Greens have held elections for the post of leader and deputy leader (or the alternative but clearly less sexy option of co-leaders as no one has gone down this route) after the party’s decision to create these new posts rather than the former positions of principal speakers (male and female) – admittedly equally less sexy in the eyes of the media.

With these two new positions up for grabs (tabloid speak), I opened the booklet eagerly to read the various candidate statements.

All I can say is give Ashley Gunstock a gold medal for standing as leader otherwise both Caroline Lucas and and Adrian Ramsay would have stood for the positions of leader and deputy leader unopposed – think Gordon Brown and the aftermath (unless you choose to vote for Ron whose candidate statement is missing – RON is in fact Re-Open Nominations!).

After all the palaver about going down the route of leader and deputy leader, I had expected a wider field of candidates.

Clearly the Greens are starting to model themselves on the Labour Party where leaders (in the Greens case at present deputy leaders) are elected unopposed.

I am sure that both Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay would make a great leader and deputy leader respectively but it is rather a shame that there is not a wider selection of candidates for these two key posts in a party which has a growing membership heading towards 8,000 – see Jim Killock’s blog for details of how party membership is growing (great news and good to see Jim is one of two candidates standing for the post of chair).

I am unlikely to vote for RON for either the leader or deputy leader but for the health of a democratic party, it would have been a more positive experience to see a stronger field of candidates for both posts as there are some extremely talented people within the party.

Therefore I congratulate Ashley Gunstock for putting his name forward – may the best man or woman win (or RON)!