How the Greens conquered the countryside

Nearly a year ago, I wrote about the rise of the Greens in rural constituencies. Now, after standing as the Conservative candidate in Waveney Valley and losing to the Green party’s co-leader – while being savaged by the rural Greens – it is time to revisit the subject.

The last piece I wrote drew both delight and outrage in Green circles. I at once found it quoted on their leaflets in the constituency and was told I would rue the day I penned it. The reason? I acknowledged their hard work while highlighting their rank hypocrisy and, frankly, bananas policies.

The Greens are now a slick and deeply political operation. In hindsight, perhaps even I, and certainly my party, underestimated that. It was foolish to dismiss them all as dreadlocked, backpack carrying, Birkenstock adorned anarchists (although the air was thick with natural deodorant when such types poured out of Diss railway station each Saturday).