Wales Green Party leader says election campaign helped distract him during chemotherapy

Nation.Cymru staff

Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter has said the Senedd election campaign gave him something to focus on while he was undergoing chemotherapy.

In his first broadcast interview since revealing his cancer diagnosis, Mr Slaughter told ITV Cymru Wales’ Sharp End he had been unable to knock on doors during treatment but could rely on his team to keep the campaign going.

“So, it was a good distraction,” he said. “It’s always a case of a balance, and even now recognising when you’re too tired to do something.”

Mr Slaughter also addressed the row over a Green Party conference motion on Zionism, saying he would have voted against it had he attended.

He said much of the motion reflected positions the party already held, but described some of its language as “unnecessarily provocative” and said the call for a one-state solution had crossed a line.

“There was a moment when it felt like we had to justify ourselves to a lot of people who had put their trust in us,” he said.

He added that the party was “never ever going to apologise for calling out the actions of the Israeli government and the Israeli armed forces”.

Mr Slaughter said he still believed an independent Wales Green Party was “not only inevitable, it’s desirable”. He said the issue had been discussed for more than a decade and that an amicable split would take considerable work because both parties had grown since the Scottish Greens went their own way.

He said the decision rested with members, who would have a vote if a motion to split passed at conference.

Asked who might succeed him as leader, Mr Slaughter said he wanted to see new candidates come forward and suggested it might be time for a younger leader or a woman to take over.

“I’ve been squatting in the office for nine years,” he said. “Perhaps it’s time for female leadership, young leadership.”

He said nominations would close in just over two weeks and that he would wait to see the full list of candidates before saying who he might support.