Green Party of England and Wales elections in England and Wales, the Green Party in Brighton and Hove took minority control of the City Council by winning 23 seats, 5 short of an overall majority. At the 2012 local government elections the Green Party gained 5 seats, and retained both AMs at the 2012 London Assembly election. At the London Mayoral Election the party's candidate Jenny Jones finished third, and lost her deposit. In May 2012, Lucas announced that she would not seek re-election to the post of party leader. In September, Natalie Bennett was elected party leader and Will Duckworth deputy leader in the leadership
Ernest Bennett (politician) and Austria-Hungary. By virtue of his marriage into the Kleinwort dynasty (of which more presently), Bennett had acquired a significant German dimension to his family. He was anxious to avoid another war, especially one which would involve strife within his new enlarged family. Through his involvement with the Labour Party, Bennett became close to Ramsay MacDonald, Labour Party leader from 1922–1935. MacDonald was likewise opposed to the terms of the Versailles Treaty, and sought to mollify them in his first brief period as Prime Minister of the short lived Labour government in 1924. Bennett was also friendly with Philip Snowden,