In his own words…

“I believe that I have a range of political and personal experience that will enable me to do a good job as Deputy Leader.

I’ve been a councillor for nine years, fought and won elections to two local authorities and contested county, parliamentary and European elections.

I’ve worked in the public, private and charitable sectors and understand the pressures and problems associated with each of them.

I served three years as Chair of the Green Party National Executive (GPex) and well understand the pressures and challenges facing us, and the need to work together to achieve our aims.

The coming years present us with many opportunities: to learn and build on our experience; to push for real progress on climate change, and to deliver a society based on equality and social justice.

Political Career

I joined the Green Party in 2001 while living in Brighton. I’d been helping out with leafleting and so on since 1999 and decided it was about time to sign up!

I stood as a candidate in the Westdene ward by-election and then in 2003 was elected to Brighton & Hove City Council as councillor for Preston Park ward.

At the 2005 General Election I took on the role of Election Coordinator in Brighton & Hove, helping Keith Taylor to secure a fantastic 22% of the vote in Brighton Pavilion constituency, beating the LibDems and almost passing the Tories. This gave us an excellent starting position to win the seat at the next general election and was at the time the highest ever Green vote in the United Kingdom in a parliamentary election.

I stood for the post of Chair of GPEx later that year, a position I held from 2005 to 2008, a period of transition which saw the party change to the current Leader and Deputy Leader model.

I moved to West Bridgford, just outside Nottingham, in 2007 and with a lot of hard work won a second seat for the party on Ruschliffe Borough Council; I was re-elected for a second term last year.

I stood as a European Parliamentary candidate for the East Midlands Region in 2008 and in 2009 stood for Nottinghamshire County Council taking second place ahead of Labour and the LibDems. In the 2010 General Election I stood as the Parliamentary candidate for
Ruschliffe.

Personal llfe

I live in West Bridgford, a town on the southern edge of Nottingham City, with my wife and fellow Green Party councillor Sue. I have two step-daughters, Lizzie and Alice.

I work for Nottingham City Council in Transport Strategy, supporting business and other organisations to use sustainable transport – walking, cycling, public transports, car sharing – and encourage the use of IT solutions as an alternative to travel, helping to cut costs, carbon emissions and congestion.

I was born and brought up in Nottinghamshire, but spent many years living elsewhere: as a student in Middlesbrough during the late 1980s reading Computer Science; a postgraduate student in Aberdeen in 90-91 reading Artificial Intelligence; and then many years in Brighton working as a software developer and project manager in the telecommunications industry.

I also worked for the British Red Cross for just over a year, a complete change from my previous jobs but really enjoyable and thoroughly worthwhile!

In the Media

I’ve appeared frequently on television and radio in the course my political career and enjoy meeting people and presenting to groups, conferences or on broadcast media. I love meeting people – it’s all about communication!

I have been on the East Midlands Sunday Politics show several times over the last five years, including studio discussions and outside broadcast items, discussing GM crops, Bio-fuels, wind farms and other subjects. Al-Jazeera also interviewed me over the government’s plans to sell off swathes of Sherwood Forest.

I have been on local radio many times over the last ten years, including several recent interviews on BBC Radio Nottingham discussing road widening, the NHS, GP surgeries & cuts to council services.

Local papers often call for interviews and quotes, and most recently I had a guest column in the Nottingham Post as part of a series of articles about electric vehicles and the future of transport technology. I have also been interviewed by and quoted in the Guardian.

I’ve done a lot of public speaking since being elected, in council chambers, at public meetings and with community groups, and as a candidate in hustings.

Most recently invited I was an invited speaker a meeting of the local Compass group and at the May Day rally organised by Nottinghamshire Trades Council.