Both were then asked to leave, the Sept. 15 minutes state. The Green Party told the Exchange at the time that it disputed “this incomplete account” of the alleged altercation.
A complaint about Ali was lodged with the Green Party a week later, according to a party official, who was granted anonymity like others in this article to discuss a sensitive matter.
The deputy leader has not been suspended by the party while the allegations are under review. A Green Party spokesperson said: “We do not comment on internal matters.” Ali declined to comment, instead directing POLITICO to the party press office.
The first party official referenced above told POLITICO any decision on whether or not to suspend Ali is expected to take about five weeks, in part due to the Greens’ Brighton conference — which Ali attended — slowing what is normally a shorter process.
The second person familiar with the process, an ally of Ali, said the deputy leader had been “under a lot of pressure” and that the party had failed to support him in the face of attacks.
Ali — one of two Green Party deputy leaders — said in a statement on X last month that he had “been subjected to a sustained series of allegations, complaints, leaks and personal attacks” since standing to become deputy leader, and argued that some of these had been “explicitly racist and Islamophobic.”