Could the Greens become a force in British politics?
The party hopes to win over voters to the left of Labour
The Green Party of England and Wales has a colourful history. Its co-founder, Tony Whittaker, a solicitor and former Tory councillor from Coventry, claimed to have been inspired by an interview in Playboy magazine with Paul Ehrlich, a biologist and population alarmist. Ahead of the October 1974 election, the budding party’s “manifesto for survival” suggested that the ideal family size was “one or a maximum of two children” and proposed “freely available” sterilisation to help Britain shrink its population. It won a grand total of 2,000 votes.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Breaking through?”
Britain May 11th 2024
From the May 11th 2024 edition
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