Why I won't vote Green again

For more than 20 years, until they actually managed to get somebody elected, I supported the Greens.

I first voted for them in 1987, and did so several times thereafter. But I do not think I shall be doing so again.

In the first place, I had no idea, back in those innocent days, that Greens were really Reds in disguise.

I supported them because I thought they represented an alternative to the tedious class-ridden two-party system – that they were above party politics.

The following year, when the Greens took control of the city council, they announced it was every citizen’s duty to oppose the austerity measures – we were a “city of protest”.

Do you remember that bizarre camp they allowed in Old Steine?

Later, we learnt the Greens never had been wholly Green at all; that some, like Lucas, were “watermelons” (green on the outside, red inside), while others were “mangoes” (green outside, yellow inside I do not know whether any of our Green councillors are actually all-green Greens.

Then there are their daft and often alarming policies. It has been suggested they would abolish the army, reduce immigration controls, and legalise membership of al-Qaeda, Isil and other terrorist organisations. No wonder David Cameron is keen to include them in the leaders’ debates - by comparison his own policies will seem perfectly sane.

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