As the primary entered its final days Salmond was quickly closing in on Bennett in the polls
“As ever, we look first to the polls. There has been slight movement to Salmond, but no side has pulled ahead and due to the margin of error anyone could take the lead. The mood amongst the candidates this week has been buoyant, except for Ali who has seen a further squeeze on his vote. Salmond has been boosted by a series of positive polls which puts him ahead of Bennett in the poll of polls. On top of this Lord Ashcroft’s polls of marginal seats have shown that Salmond is pulling away from the crowd on the issues that matter. But polling shows 10% more registered supporters are receiving material from Bennett than Salmond. With the polls so tight, this could cost Salmond the election. Last week’s debate did not move the polls, so next week we are looking to the launch of the main candidate's manifestos. Will these give the candidates the spurt they need to draw ahead, or will this campaign be remembered for both candidates staying neck and neck.” - Progressive Alliance Poll of Polls, FHF London, (2013)
As the primary reached its final days, polls increasingly showed Bennett and Salmond neck and neck. The campaign became increasingly bitter in the last few days. The biggest clash came just before polling day, when the three green candidates, in a joint statement led by Bennett, attacked Salmond for his support of oil drilling in the north sea. Salmond countered that the three “London politicians” were “ganging up on him”. Relations in the Alliance became increasingly tense, and behind the scenes figures like Patrick Harvie had to work overtime to try and hold the coalition together.
The Alliance also faced annoyances from its minor constituent parties, both Merbyn Kernow and Yorkshire First complained that both Scotland and Wales had been given written commitments to an independence referendum in the Hereford declaration, but Cornwall and Yorkshire hadn’t. Further to this the left-wing caucus of the Greens and SNP had submitted complaints that far left parties such as the TUSC and Left Unity had been rejected from joining the Alliance. Bundling a dozen different small parties into one Alliance was increasingly looking like a bad idea.
Whoever the primary's victor, they would struggle to hold the dysfunctional coalition together
“The Alliance recognises it's increased influence on the trade union movement and welcomes the intentions of motion C13 passed at the TUC in 2013, proposed by UNITE and seconded by USDAW. The motion opposed benefits cuts, sanctions and the system of Universal Credit. The Alliance believes that the TUC should acknowledge Universal Basic Income and argue for a progressive system. This would be easier to administer and easier for people to navigate. These principles should always leave citizens better off.’ This conference calls upon Progressive politicians to work with trade unions to make Universal Basic Income a reality.” - A motion proposed to the conference by left wing delegates from Hackney Green Party (2013)
The press greatly enjoyed the clashes between the Alliance’s constituent parties, and the “generic Alliance candidate” fell to just 6% in the polls, down from a high of 9%. The Daily Mail in particular had an axe to grind against the Greens, publishing articles such as “Lunacy of the town that turned green: A ban on bacon butties. Traffic-calming sheep. Transgender toilets. Sounds like a send-up? In fact, it's the all-too-real story of how Britain's loopiest party took over Norwich”. Whilst the Mail’s attacks were exaggerated at best and fictitious at worse, many in the Alliance took solace in the fact they were considered big enough to be worth attacking.
Both Lucas and Bennett had been repeatedly targeted by the right wing press during their time in Government
As the Alliance’s supporters and leaders arrived at Birmingham Conservatoire for the conference, tension was high and the atmosphere was electric, for the Alliance’s staffers the name of the game became unity, with various joint speeches and fringe events across the long weekend to demonstrate the strength of the Alliance. Party activists were encouraged to join together and mingle, with a generous bar tab for the Young Progressive’s karaoke night. The conference went well with a hopeful atmosphere in an event that combined music, culture and politics in a European style spectacle.
As the Alliance’s national chair Jenny Jones rose to announce the result of an unprecedented multi-party primary the Alliance saw a great deal of media attention, even foreign news teams like CNN were watching the event. In her speech Jones said the fact that the myriad different parties were all sitting together, taking part in the democratic process, proved the campaign had been a success. With that she announced the vote tallies.
“Politics isn't about being in power for the sake of being in power. It isn't about sucking up to big business and powerful media moguls in order to drive about in a fancy ministerial car. Politics is about real change. Up and down our country we Progressives are delivering real change. From Truro to Inverness we Progressives are making waves. We need to understand just how incredible our Alliance is and how ambitious our commitments are. Zero carbon by 2030, clean air as a human right, stopping all unnecessary single use plastic by 2025, all new housing being zero carbon and 30,000 hectares of new forest a year. We here are proof that politics can change. We here are proof different people and parties can work together for the common good. And no matter the results of this primary we can all be proud that together we had changed politics for the better. Now without further ado I Jenny Jones, Chairwoman of the National Council for a Progressive Alliance do hereby declare…” - Jenny Jones speech to Progressive Conference (2013)
Bennet had won, but the result was close, as expected Salmond had rallied the civic nationalist block behind him, whilst the Green vote had been split three ways. However as Ali and Womack were eliminated the majority of their preferences shifted to Bennett. Ultimately Bennett had the money and media clout to win the primary, the fact Salmond had come so close to unseating her was an embarrassment, but the primary was over. Now Bennett had to bring her fledgling Alliance back together.
Bennett’s speech emphasised a change message, calling on the electorate to vote with their hearts, saying “the only wasted vote, is a vote you don’t believe in.” Bennett was conciliatory, thanking “Alex, Amelia and Shahrar for all your hard work”. Bennett set out radical commitments for her Presidency, including carbon neutrality by 2030, a Scottish and Welsh independence referendum, and the scrapping of nuclear weapons. Bennett pledged the Alliance would “stand up for the common good”.
Now came the issue of selecting a running mate. Bennett’s team wanted her to pick a non-green in order to bring the Alliance together, preferably a political outsider to act as the “conscious” to the establishment Bennett. Salmond was the obvious choice of a unity candidate, but many Alliance figures worried about how he would function playing second fiddle. Salmond famously had both an ego and a temper and the primary had been bruising for Bennett and Salmond’s relationship.
Another option could be Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP’s second most senior figure, however she dismissed this out of hand, wanting to focus on her campaign to become Premier of Scotland in 2014. Other senior SNP figures approached like Gordon Wilson and Keith Brown turned Bennett down out of loyalty to Salmond. There were some discussions of picking a Plaid figure like Leanne Wood or Ieuan Jones but in the end it was decided that for the Alliance to survive Bennett’s running mate needed to be from the SNP. With all her options exhausted Bennett selected Alex Salmond as her potential Vice President and with gritted teeth Salmond accepted.
The Alliance knew it was unlikely Bennett would become President, but a strong campaign could boost Alliance candidates in local races across the county. Especially in cities like Bristol, Brighton, Aberdeen and Norwich. In these university cities the Alliance could fill the left wing “gap in the market” and could establish themselves as a true political force, they had proven themselves in Government, now it was time to paint the country yellow and green.
“The Greens' registered supporters demographics have changed significantly since 2009. Whereas there is gender parity amongst the pre-2009 cohort of Greens, two-thirds of those who joined after 2009 were male. Gender parity was restored during the formation of the Alliance, with 45% of post-Alliance supporters being women. In this sense, the Green Surge shares similarities with the SNP’s and Labour’s support surges. These were more or less gender-equal phenomena and a far cry from the erstwhile male domination of British political parties. The Alliance also broadened the number of non-graduate registered supporters. Only 58% of the new post-Alliance supporters were university graduates. While only 30% of the pre-2009 cohort belonged to lower social classes, 37 per cent of the Alliance surgers belonged to lower social groups. Thus, although new members have not driven the Greens further to the left, the party seems to have attracted a more balanced profile of members.” - The Progressive Alliance and how it changed constituent party membership, lecture by Monica Poletti, LSE (2013)
The Alliance hoped to cement itself as the "UKIP of the left"
The Progressive Alliance did more harm than good for its constituent parties”, discuss. (30 Marks) - A Level History Exam (2019)