Launching my campaign for a spot on the Green Party Executive
We’ve reached one of those major turning points in history in British politics. Forty years of cronyism and mismanagement by Labour and the Conservatives has led to a righteous anger bubbling up within the public. It’s the same story worldwide. The failure of capitalism to provide safety, stability and equality has driven voters to despair.
This is a moment in time when anti-establishment sentiment is sky high, and populism is almost a necessity at this point to reset our politics and bring power back to the people. The question is this: Which political movement will fill that role? Will it be the likes of Reform UK, poisoning our politics with hatred and division, or can we in the Green Party bring forward a populism of hope and cooperation?
In last year’s general election the Green Party won four seats in parliament – an astonishing increase won through hard work on the ground in highly-targeted constituencies. It was an amazing achievement, but Labour’s supermajority renders our MPs almost powerless in parliament, and the rise of the far-right has left us voiceless on the national stage.
We know we’ve got the ground game, but it’s time to start winning on the airwaves, on social media, on television and in newspapers. It’s time for a communications strategy which puts the Green Party front and center of British politics instead of whispering on the sidelines. We need to grow our movement rapidly, to seize this moment in history and build a new politics that works for the public good.
Focus on what the public want
The Green Party has hundreds of fantastic policies, and we’re almost falling over ourselves to advertise them all to the public at once. But working families have priorities, and our messaging needs to shift to have a laser focus on the things that matter most to voters. The cost of living crisis, the state of the NHS, and a lack of affordable housing are three of voters’ top concerns right now.
I researched the Green Party’s social media output during April this year at the peak of the local elections, and found that we rarely mentioned these top issues. We didn’t post about housing at all on Facebook – which seems like a missed opportunity during a local election campaign, on a platform brimming with community groups talking about exactly that subject.
As part of my strategy for external communications, I want to make sure we’re talking about the things that truly matter to voters constantly – making it known that the Green Party is on their side.
The right messaging in the right place
While I find Reform UK’s policy platform abhorrent, and will do everything in my power to see them fail miserably at the next general election, I do think we can learn from their success. One thing they do well is talking about the right things in the right outlets.
Facebook, Twitter (X), TikTok, Instagram, BBC News, Sky News, The Guardian, The Morning Star – every single outlet has a wildly different target audience and we must respond accordingly. You can’t post the same meme for 18 year old students on TikTok and 50 year old home-owners on Facebook and expect to get the exact same response. We know these people have different priorities and that needs to be reflected in our messaging.
Highly targeted messaging and actions on the ground won us four seats in parliament, we have to apply those same principles to our output in the media.
Growing our movement to win big
Key to our success will be our ability to grow the Green Party membership. There are hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic left-of-centre campaigners out there who are currently completely disconnected from politics. Starmer’s Labour Party offers no home for them. Labour’s left wing has been decimated, but few of them have been charmed into the Green Party fold.
At the top level of politics, compassionate and experienced left-wing MPs like John McDonnell & Zara Sultana have been cut adrift from their party. Others like Clive Lewis and Dianne Abbott cling to their red rosettes while the leadership runs roughshod over their principles.
All of these people deserve a home within the Green Party, from the top to the bottom of politics, and with their help we can become a true force to be reckoned with. Much of my strategy if elected would center around recruiting and retaining new members of the party to spread our message even further than we can currently manage with our 60,000 members alone.
I know that by following this communications strategy, we can achieve a meteoric rise in British Politics, grow our movement and wrestle power out of the hands of the far-right. We just need to be bold enough to try.
(Promoted and produced by Daniel Johnston as part of his campaign for election to the post of External Communications Co-Ordinator. This is not an official communication from the Green Party of England and Wales.)
