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The role exists to represent the members and to further the achievement of the Green Party’s objectives generally and specifically through providing a leadership steer to the external communications of the Party.
The Candidates
Dan Johnston
It’s time for a bold messaging strategy to build a mass movement.
Our ground game got us four seats in Parliament, but we have to start winning on the airwaves, on social media and in the press too.
We need a meteoric rise in the polls to drag British politics back to the left and eliminate the threat from the far-right.
In my day job I have been running my own digital design company for 10 years now, keeping on top of social media trends and keeping good relationships with publishers and the press. With this experience, I have seen how we can successfully get our message out to more people and grow as a movement.
I’ve also been in the Green Party for around the same length of time, during which I have been the social media officer for both South West Young Greens and my own local party in South Gloucestershire – where I also served two years as local party coordinator. I’ve really enjoyed working with other Greens to attract new members and win votes, and I want to bring that experience to GPEX.
If I am elected as External Communications Coordinator, I will seek to refine the Green Party’s messaging strategy in three main ways:
- Focus on what the public wants most. The cost of living, the state of the NHS and the housing crisis are three of the top issues facing the public today and the Green Party have hugely popular policies in these areas. We should be focusing our message to win more votes.
- We need the right messaging in the right places, instead of a blanket approach. Our campaign messaging should be different across different social media platforms, traditional print media and broadcast television, to match the needs and wants of the average audience in each place.
- Grow the movement by appealing to left-of-center activists. The Labour Party has lost over 400,000 members since Keir Starmer became leader in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of politically-engaged activists to the left of Labour that the Green Party have not yet managed to reach. With bold, radical messaging, we have a real chance to swell our membership. The goal is to prevent Reform UK from becoming the biggest political party – a haunting milestone.
Of course, I will work with the other members of GPEX to make this happen and as a voting member of GPEX I would have a say in the future direction of the party on numerous issues. In this regard I will support:
- Radical action wherever possible, not slight incremental change.
- Defending nature at every opportunity, where no other party will.
- Defending and enhancing trans rights, and those of all marginalised communities, who are already so demonised in British politics.
Elect me as External Communications Coordinator to grow our party and win big!
Jonathan Kent
I would like to bring my 35 years’ professional experience in journalism, PR and communications to the role of External Communications Coordinator.
I began my career in journalism in local newspapers in 1990, having been a student journalist. I subsequently joined the BBC where I did a stints in local radio and as a political reporter at Westminster, before working across network news and current affairs programmes including The World Tonight on Radio 4 and Newshour on the World Service. I’ve run Reuters UK news desk weekends, spent 5 ½ years as a foreign correspondent in SE Asia, primarily for the BBC, was regional editor for NPR’s Asia-Pac current affairs show and have reported for Newsweek and the Daily Telegraph. I wrote, produced and presented the 2012 series ‘Our Daily Bread’ on Radio 4 and conceived and produced 2022’s Becoming British Chinese, also Radio 4.
As a communications executive I’ve worked with NGOs including the UNDP and Heifer International and a wide variety of fast-growing businesses and organisations, especially in technology. I have wide experience in B2B, B2C and crisis comms.
I joined the Green Party in 1987/8, have served as SE Party Chair, stood for parliament four time and Brussels once. I carried out a review of the party’s communications operations in the early 2010s and, with Rupert Read in 2015, developed the ‘What are you afraid of boys’ campaign that helped the party secure a place in one of that year’s general election debates. It’s worth pointing out at this point that the party’s comms operations seem to have developed hugely over the last 10-15 years.
My priorities for the external comms coordinator role would be as follows:
- Challenge broadcasters to make public the formulae they use to determine how they allocate political airtime.
- Develop our messaging framework.
- Review party messaging with the aim of developing two or three themes that, with constant repetition, will cut through and ensure a broad, growing coalition of support.
- Look to develop targeted messaging bundles within the wider framework that will connect with specific audiences.
- Work with the comms team to review current operations.
- Identify areas of strength and areas where capacity building is needed.
- Organise/provide training where required.
- Optimise comms team workflow.
- Work with leadership, senior elected representatives and principal spokespeople to hone communications skills.
My aim would be to take an ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach while ensuring that the comms team has the support and resources it needs and that it develops in any areas where improvement is desirable. I would be available as an experienced sounding board and to both represent the party to the comms team and vice versa.
I believe my combination of long experience both within the Green Party and in the media would help deliver an even more effective communications operation in the run up to the next election.
Laura Manston
Green Party members, the time is now! The political landscape is shifting dramatically, and it’s our time to step up and lead. The tired two-party system is crumbling; we’ve seen fleeting surges from other new parties and long-loyal politicians abandoning ship as their foundations crack. This isn’t just a political shift; it’s a tectonic plate movement and it’s an opportunity like we’ve never had before to share our vision of a future where people are valued, where prosperity is shared, and where health and happiness are paramount.
Our vision isn’t just a dream, it’s a blueprint. It’s a meticulously crafted plan. We’ve worked tirelessly, collaborating, costing and refining every detail. We know it can be a reality if we choose it, and now it’s our duty to show people how it can be achieved. We owe it to them – our friends, our families, our neighbours, our colleagues, every living being and every one yet to come.
That’s where I come in. I’m here to ensure our message is crystal clear, powerfully concise, and resonates with individuals right across our diverse society. We need to reach every single person, leaving no one behind, by delivering our message across every media channel out there.
With over 20 years of communications experience, I bring a wealth of ideas to this role. I’ll craft the right frequency, tone, and content to cut through the noise and land where it’s needed. I’ll leverage my network to build a strong, lasting communications legacy for our party. My approach is always inclusive and collaborative, and I’ll tap into the vast expanse of experience from our members, councillors, MPs, and staff to create an engaging communications strategy. This strategy will be a consistent, amplifying force for the entire party, from national campaigns to local and regional groups.
I joined the Greens in 2019, driven by the realisation that our country, and our planet, needed urgent and radical change to avert the existential threat we face. I reached out to my local Green group, eager to contribute. Within 6 months, I was standing in the county election, where I tripled the previous Green vote but it wasn’t enough to unseat the incumbent. So, I put in the groundwork and laid the foundations for the next election, in 2023, when I was elected with a significant margin.
As a relative latecomer to politics, I can honestly say that I’ve finally found my true calling. I am thoroughly committed to the Green Party and genuinely believe we are the only party with the solutions to the crises we face – from cost of living and housing to education and social care – and with policies that also ensure racial, social, economic and environmental justice.
I believe that I am the right person, at the right time, in the right party, to attract the public to our revolutionary vision through impactful external communications.