Natalie Bennett must have put in some long hours leading the Greens, because the party just elected two people to replace her.
Caroline Lucas, the MP for Brighton Pavilion, and the party’s work and pensions spokesman, Jon Bartley, were chosen with 84 per cent of the vote.
The co-leaders told attendees at the Green party conference: “We’re incredibly proud to be the first party leaders to job share.”
As the Green party’s only MP, Lucas is the most high profile member of the Green party and the first leader of the party. She is a vocal opponent of fracking, and was arrested in 2013 at a peaceful protest against a fracking operation (she was found not guilty).
Related
Bartley helped to found Ekklesia, a think tank focusing on religion and belief in public life. He began his life in politics working for the Conservative Prime Minister John Major, but later became a campaigner on electoral reform and joined the Greens.
Speaking to the Brixton Buzz, he said the job share would help both co-leaders balance family and work commitments: “I would like to see the job sharing model expanded to all areas of politics from local to national. It would open up politics.”
Standing alongside Lucas, he called for “a radical redistribution of wealth and power”.