Jonathan Bartley

Jonathan Bartley     (politician)
Born	16 October 1971 London, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Dulwich College, London School of Economics
Religion	Christian
Party	Conservative, Green Party of England and Wales
UK Green Party politician.  Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales  In office 2 September 2016 - 2021 Together with Caroline Lucas  Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales In office 2 September 2016 - 2021 Together with Caroline Lucas

Jonathan Bartley was the Co-leader of the Greens from 2016 to 2021. He announced his intentions to stand down in July 2021.

Politics

After graduating from the LSE, Bartley worked at the UK Parliament on a cross-party basis as a researcher and parliamentary assistant for a number of years. He volunteered on John Major's campaign team in the 1995 Conservative Party leadership election against John Redwood. He later said, "I was not an advisor, I was not a staffer and I am so far from the Conservatives you wouldn't believe."

In 2002, Bartley co-founded Ekklesia, a Christian think-tank which looks at "the changing role of beliefs, values and faith/non-faith in public life". In 2008, he co-founded the Accord Coalition, which works to end religious discrimination and segregation in the English and Welsh school systems.

He is a regular contributor to BBC One's The Big Questions. He has formerly contributed to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day and ITV's The Moral of the Story, and has been a columnist for The Church Times. He has been a guest on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze and has written for The Guardian newspaper.

Green Party

In 2012, Bartley was selected as the Green Party candidate for the Lambeth and Southwark constituency for the London Assembly elections, winning over 18,000 votes. Bartley also acted as the party's press officer for the London campaign.

Bartley sought to be the party's candidate in the 2016 London mayoral election, but was defeated by Siân Berry. He was instead named in fourth place on the party's list of candidates for the concurrent London Assembly elections and played an active role in the campaign.

On 31 May 2016, it was announced that Bartley would run for the position of the leader of the Green Party in a job share arrangement with the former leader Caroline Lucas in the forthcoming 2016 Green Party leadership election. He and Lucas subsequently became co-leaders on 2 September 2016. Bartley did not stand for election at the 2017 general election.

On 3 May 2018, Bartley was elected as a Green Party councillor for St Leonard's Ward on Lambeth Council. He finished as the second place Green candidate. Later that month he became leader of the Green group and opposition on the Council.

On 30 May 2018, Caroline Lucas announced she would not seek re-election as co-leader of the Green Party in the party's leadership election which will take place in September, as the party elects its leaders every 2 years. He stood for election as co-leader with Siân Berry and the two were successful.

On 16 October 2019, Bartley was arrested by police while demonstrating with Extinction Rebellion in Trafalgar Square.

Bartley again stood for Parliament in the 2019 General Election in the constituency of Dulwich and West Norwood, finishing second with 16.5% of the vote.

On 8 June 2020, Bartley announced his intention to stand again as co-leader alongside Berry. On 9 September, it was reported that Bartley and Berry had won their re-election, but with a decreased vote share.

In May 2021, Bartley was a signatory to an open letter from Stylist magazine, alongside celebrities and other public figures, which called on the government to address what it described as an "epidemic of male violence" by funding an "ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed awareness campaign on men's violence against women and girls".

In July 2021, Bartley announced he would be standing down as party co-leader later in the month, triggering a leadership contest.

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