> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Christopher Hawtree: Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Hove and Portslade
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/christopher-hawtree-green-party-parliamentary-candidate-for-brighton-and-hove/
- Published: 2015-04-26T09:42:18.000Z
- Updated: 2015-04-26T14:46:14.000Z
- Description: People ‘enter politics’ through many doors. Always interested by this, Christopher says he was galvanised by the campaign to prevent the imposition of a directly-elected Mayor on Hove and Brighton – and by running a nationally resonant campaign to prevent Hove Library being closed down.
- Author: Contributor
- Tags: Election Special, News, Politics, Green Party, Stonewall equality manifesto

## People *‘enter politics’* through many doors. Always interested by this, Christopher says he was galvanised by the campaign to prevent the imposition of a *directly-elected Mayor* on Hove and Brighton – and by running a nationally resonant campaign to prevent Hove Library being closed down.

[![Christopher Hawtree: Green Party Parlimentary Candidate for Hove and Portslade](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/web-600-219.jpg)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/gscene-com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/web-600-219.jpg)

Christopher Hawtree: Green Party Parlimentary Candidate for Hove and Portslade

**He says:** *“As somebody who built up a business by dint of using words, I regard this political quest as one of fostering that vital and sometimes scarce human quality of confidence in one’s talent and abilities – upon an Earth where the need to prevent climate change means that we have to encourage diverse talents.*

*“I hope I am the opposite of Evelyn Waugh’s remark: “politicians are not people who seek power in order to implement policies they think necessary. They are people who seek policies in order to attain power.”*

---

**Christopher’s position on the Stonewall Equality Manifesto: To download Manifesto, [click here:](http://www.stonewall.org.uk/what%5Fwe%5Fdo/campaign/election%5F2015/default.asp?ref=scenemag.co.uk)**

**Statutory PSHE and Sex and Relationships Education for primary and secondary schools in England:* It is so often heartening that young people are unfazed by LGBT issues, accepting of this as a way of life. Of course, in Hove and Brighton there is likely to be greater tolerance than elsewhere, but one should not be complacent – adolescence, and earlier, is so turbulent a time that understanding and support is as vital as ever.*

**Combatting homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime:* The reporting of Crime, in all its forms, is essential – and it has to be taken seriously. In his 1924 diary Evelyn Waugh described being told “Mr Justice Phillimore was trying a sodomy case and brooded greatly whether his judgement had been right. He went to consult Birkenhead. “Excuse me, my lord, but could you tell me – What do you think one ought to give to a man who allows himself to be buggered?” “Oh, 30s or £2 – anything you happen to have on you.” Very funny, it also illustrates that one understanding prevailed in some levels of society while others were punished. Even the post-war Attlee government did not address homosexual issues. This took decades of brave campaigning, a social rather than political force.*

**International Aid:* Great progress has been made here but the situation in Russia, India and much of Africa is horrifying: imprisonment, the death sentence. Without support for LGBT issues internationally the progress here will not achieve its full effect.*

**Reviewing the laws affecting trans people:* I am very pleased that Hove and Brighton Council produced recently a Report on this very issue – and, as it happens, I spoke about this at four Committees in one week. An excellent work, it received widespread support: I should like to see it repeated across the country.*

---

**Christopher’s position on the future Commissioning of Health Services and how that affects the Sussex Beacon:**

*“The NHS needs to be brought back to its founding principles. Crucial is the addressing of the £80 billion PFI debt racked up by the Labour government. To subsume that as .045% of the national debt would reduce repayments and prevent the bankruptcy of some 30 hospitals. We also need to halt TTIP tout court. Otherwise all public services, including the NHS , will be diminished – and support of the Sussex Beacon placed in peril.”*

**For a full list of candidates standing in Hove and Portslade, [click here:](http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/Statement%20of%20Persons%20Nominated%20-%20Hove%20-%20Parliamentary%202015.pdf?ref=scenemag.co.uk)**