Britain’s Green Party is facing criticism over internal diversity training that reportedly encouraged members to challenge potentially derogatory jokes, document incidents they considered inappropriate and examine whether their closest friendship groups were sufficiently diverse.
The sessions, delivered to Green activists during the summer, have triggered sharp attacks from political opponents, including comparisons with surveillance practices in East Germany. The Green Party has rejected that characterisation, saying the exercises were standard equality, diversity and inclusion activities intended to encourage discussion about creating welcoming environments.
Training Tells Members Not to Ignore Offensive Jokes
One of the scenarios presented during the training involved Green activists entering a meeting where people were making derogatory jokes about the nationality of a Polish person who was also present.
Everyone in the hypothetical situation was laughing, including the person being discussed.
The trainer acknowledged that the participants could be close friends and that the Polish individual might even have initiated the exchange.
However, members were told that this would not necessarily make the jokes appropriate within a Green Party setting because other people present could interpret the environment differently.
The reasoning presented was that allowing derogatory jokes in an organised party space could create an atmosphere where similar comments became acceptable regardless of whether the immediate target objected.
Activists Encouraged to Record Details of Incidents
The training reportedly encouraged members who witnessed concerning behaviour to document what happened.
That could include recording dates, times and locations so that information would be available if a formal complaint was subsequently made.
However, activists were also told that documenting an incident should not replace responding to a situation when intervention was appropriate.
The trainer reportedly stressed that members should not simply do nothing.
Possible responses included changing the subject, creating a diversion or giving the person targeted by a remark an opportunity to leave the situation.
Trainer Says She Is Not the ‘Joke Police’
Despite the emphasis on challenging inappropriate humour, the party official delivering the session reportedly insisted she was “not here to be the joke police.”
Members were instead encouraged to think critically about why a particular joke was considered funny and whether it could make others uncomfortable.
The training referenced the Green Party’s code of conduct as the basis for discouraging derogatory jokes within party spaces.
Critics, however, argue that encouraging members to document remarks between friends risks moving beyond normal standards of conduct into excessive monitoring of interpersonal conversations.
Compliment About Sexuality Used as Harassment Example
Another hypothetical scenario involved two party members, identified as Carol and Steve, packing away equipment after a meeting.
Carol tells Steve: “A good man is so hard to find these days. It’s such a waste that you’re not straight.”
Participants were asked to consider whether the remark was acceptable.
According to the training, the statement might initially appear harmless, complimentary or simply be regarded as banter.
However, members were told it could potentially constitute sexual harassment depending on the context, its effect on Steve and whether similar remarks formed part of a wider pattern.
The example was used to illustrate how comments intended as jokes or compliments can be experienced differently by the person receiving them.
Green Members Asked to Examine Their Five Closest Friends
A separate equalities seminar held during the summer focused on what trainers described as unconscious or “affinity” bias.
Participants were asked to write down the names of their five closest friends.
They were then instructed to mark whether each person shared characteristics with them, including ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion and educational background.
After completing the exercise, members were encouraged to examine what the results revealed about their social circles.
Trainer Links Similar Friendship Groups to ‘Affinity Bias’
The instructor explained that the exercise was intended to demonstrate what is commonly described as affinity bias — a tendency for people to feel greater familiarity or connection with others they perceive as similar to themselves.
Participants were told that people may extend greater trust, empathy, cooperation and positive regard towards individuals with whom they share characteristics.
Members were subsequently encouraged to consider “forming diverse friendships” as one possible way of challenging such biases.
The exercise has become one of the most controversial elements of the leaked material, with critics arguing that political organisations should not encourage members to assess friendships according to demographic characteristics.
Labour MP Compares Training to East Germany
David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, attacked the programme after details emerged, comparing aspects of the training to the surveillance culture associated with communist East Germany.
Taylor told the Mail on Sunday that the leaked lectures appeared “more akin to Stasi East Germany than 2026.”
He also mocked the Greens as the “fun police,” arguing that party members were being encouraged to monitor ordinary humour and social interactions.
The comparison is Taylor’s political criticism rather than a factual description of the Green Party’s practices.
Conservatives Attack Greens Over Training
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake also criticised the programme.
He accused the Greens of focusing on members’ private lives and friendships while arguing that the leadership should instead address allegations of antisemitism within the party.
The criticism comes as the Greens prepare for their annual conference and face a separate internal debate over a proposed motion concerning Zionism. Green leader Zack Polanski has also recently publicly described himself as anti-Zionist while campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Those separate political controversies are not evidence about the merits of the diversity training itself, but they have contributed to wider scrutiny of the party’s internal culture.
Free Speech Union Warns About Wider Implications
Lord Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, also attacked the training.
He described the material as a “terrifying glimpse” of what Britain could look like under a Green government.
His remarks reflect the organisation’s broader free-speech criticism of diversity and inclusion programmes rather than an assessment shared by the Green Party.
The criticism centres particularly on whether encouraging people to intervene in jokes and record potentially inappropriate behaviour could discourage ordinary conversation or create fear of complaints.
Green Party Defends Workshops as Standard DEI Training
The Green Party has rejected the suggestion that the exercises represent an attempt to police members’ private lives.
A party spokesperson said the activities were conventional equality, diversity and inclusion exercises.
“The activities in this workshop are standard equality, diversity and inclusion activities designed to spark discussion about creating safe and welcoming spaces within our party,” the spokesperson said.
The party’s response frames the exercises as discussion tools rather than instructions to monitor members outside organised Green spaces.
Debate Raises Wider Questions About Political Party Culture
The controversy ultimately reflects a broader disagreement over how political organisations should handle potentially discriminatory behaviour.
Supporters of such training argue that comments dismissed as harmless banter can still create uncomfortable environments for other people and that members should understand how unconscious biases can influence their behaviour.
Critics contend that asking activists to document jokes and analyse the demographic characteristics of their friends risks pushing diversity initiatives too deeply into personal relationships and informal conversation.
The Green Party maintains that the workshops were intended to encourage discussion about inclusion.
Its political opponents have interpreted the same material very differently, turning an internal training programme into another dispute over free expression, discrimination and the boundaries of diversity policies in British politics.
