Role and History
The Principal Speakers performed the public and media roles undertaken by the leaders of more conventional political parties. Green Parties often consider joint leadership of this kind to embody the widely-held Green beliefs in consensus decision making and gender balance. It also symbolises their belief in the need for a society in which people are empowered and involved in making the decisions which affect them. In the Party's Philosophical Basis, it states that the Green Party "reject the hierarchical structure of leaders and followers, and, instead advocate participatory politics" and it is "for this reason" that the Green Party has eschewed an individual leader.
There were six Principal Speakers in the UK Green Party until 1991, when changes introduced by the Green 2000 grouping reduced this to two and streamlined the organisation of the party. This left a system that neither side in the 2007 leadership referendum was happy with.
Read more about this topic: Principal Speaker
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