Jonathan Bartley

Early life and family

Bartley was born in London on 16 October 1971. His father was Dr Christopher Bartley, an NHS consultant physician, and Normandy veteran. Bartley's uncle was Anthony Bartley, a World War II Spitfire pilot and squadron leader who married the actress Deborah Kerr. Bartley is a direct descendent of the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. Bartley accidentally killed someone in a car accident when he was 17; the police did not press any charges.

Education

From 1980—1989, Bartley was educated at Dulwich College, a boarding independent school for boys, in Dulwich in south London, followed by the London School of Economics, from which he graduated in 1994.

Life and career

After graduating from the London School of Economics in 1994, Bartley worked at the UK Parliament as a researcher and parliamentary assistant for a number of years, and was part of John Major's campaign team in the 1995 Conservative Party leadership election against John Redwood.

He co-founded Ekklesia, a think-tank which looks at "the changing role of beliefs, values and faith/non-faith in public life" in 2002. In 2008 he co-founded the Accord Coalition, which campaigns to restrict religious schools in England and Wales.

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 ITV1'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. He has also represented the Green Party of England and Wales in the media, including the BBC's welfare debate at the 2015 general election, clashing with the former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

David Cameron incident

On 27 April 2010, while Bartley was waiting to attend a hospital appointment at the Evelina Children's Hospital with his son Samuel, a Conservative party official asked if he would like to meet the-then Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Bartley agreed and party officials then brought the Conservative leader over to meet them, on his way to a car after a General Election campaign event in South London.

Bartley asserted that Conservative manifesto plans would increase the segregation of disabled children as it pledged to "end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools". Referring to his own two-year attempt to gain a place for his son in a mainstream school, Bartley also asked why the Conservative manifesto did not say that the Conservatives wanted to encourage children into mainstream schools. David Cameron said "It absolutely does say that sir, I promise you". After the event Channel 4 FactCheck said that David Cameron had been wrong.

The Daily Telegraph pointed out that Bartley had been on The Moral Maze and was a regular commentator in the media. Bartley said he was a "floating voter", that he felt let down by the main parties and criticised the Labour Government over the issues of inclusion.

Afterwards, Bartley became the chair of the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE),.

AV Referendum

As part of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement following the 2010 General Election, the two parties agreed to an AV referendum on changing the method of electing MPs in subsequent general elections. A long time supporter of electoral reform, Bartley was appointed a vice-chair of the official cross-party Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, acting principally as a media spokesperson throughout the referendum.

After the campaign, he joined the council of the Electoral Reform Society, serving as vice-chair.

Green Party activity

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.

In 2014, Bartley contested the Streatham, St Leonard's ward as a Green candidate. He finished the runner up in fourth place with just over 1,100 votes. Out of the three Green candidates elected, one was successful in winning.

Bartley was the Green Party candidate for the London constituency of Streatham in the 2015 general election, receiving 4,421 votes (8.9%), up from the 1.8% the party received in 2010.

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 is also the Work and Pensions spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales.

Music

Bartley is the drummer for British blues rock band The Mustangs. The band is signed to the Trapeze music label and has released nine albums, including a live album and a 'Best Of'.

Family

Bartley had three children with his wife, Lucy. Bartley confirmed in May 2017 that he and Lucy are now separated.

Books