Ashley Gunstock

Ashley Gunstock (born ) was a British Green Party politician and actor. He unsuccessfully ran against Caroline Lucas to become the first leader of the Green Party in 2008 and was a candidate in the 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election. He now teaches at Ilford County High School in Essex.

Acting career Gunstock played the role of Robin Frank in The Bill from 1984–1989. In 2016, he collaborated on a translation into English of the Dario Niccodemi play Scampolo. He played Shylock in his own adaptation of The Merchant of Venice in 2019.

Political career Gunstock is a member of the Green Party of England and Wales. He was previously a member of the UK Green Party before it separated, running for the party in the 1990 Barnet London Borough Council election. He ran for the successor party in every London Borough Council election until 2014. He stood as the Green parliamentary election candidate in Finchley in 1992, Finchley and Golders Green in 1997 and in Leyton and Wanstead for every election between 2001 and 2019.

He stood for the London Assembly for the Havering and Redbridge constituency in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections.

Leadership campaigns In 2007 Gunstock stood to be the male Principal Speaker of the Green Party, a public spokesperson role the party had instead of leaders until 2008. He came in third place with 9.1% of the vote. He was a candidate in the 2008 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election. Caroline Lucas, the other candidate, was considered much better-known in the party. She won the election by 2,559 votes to Gunstock's 210.

On 17 August 2021, Gunstock announced he was running in the party's 2021 leadership election. He said that he wanted to get more Green Party candidates elected in order to address climate change.

Elections contested

House of Commons

Date Constituency Votes % votes Place 1992 Finchley 564 1.4 4th 1997 Finchley and Golders Green 576 1.1 5th 2001 Leyton and Wanstead 1,030 3.1 4th 2005 Leyton and Wanstead 1,522 4.6 4th 2010 Leyton and Wanstead 562 1.4 5th 2015 Leyton and Wanstead 2,974 7.3 3rd 2017 Leyton and Wanstead 1,351 2.9 4th 2019 Leyton and Wanstead 1,805 4.1 4th

London Assembly (constituency)

DateConstituencyVotes % votesPlace 2000 Havering and Redbridge 6,803 6.2 5th 2004 Havering and Redbridge 6,009 4.7 6th 2008 Havering and Redbridge 9,126 5.4 5th

Council

Date Council Ward Votes Place 1990 Barnet London Borough Council Childs Hill 267 10th 1994 Barnet London Borough Council St Paul's 314 11th 1998 Barnet London Borough Council Finchley 365 8th 2002 Redbridge London Borough Council Snaresbrook 368 8th 2003 by-election Redbridge London Borough Council Valentines 86 5th 2006 Redbridge London Borough Council Wanstead 810 7th 2009 by-election Redbridge London Borough Council Wanstead 256 4th 2010 Redbridge London Borough Council Wanstead 810 7th 2014 Redbridge London Borough Council Wanstead 484 10th

Green Party leadership

DateVotes % votesPlace 2008 210 7.6 2nd 2021 212 1.8 5th