Eleanor & the team
Leadership should build capability around a clear direction.
Why Eleanor is standing, how she intends to lead, and why the wider team matters as much as the plan.
About Eleanor Rofe
Experience relevant to the job of leadership
Eleanor comes to this from outside politics. She ran a volunteer film festival — where she learned that enthusiasm is not an operating model, and that volunteers need a reason to turn up, something useful to do, and the sense that their contribution matters.
She has spent the last five years in comms and brand strategy with hard-tech startups, helping people make the case for ideas that were difficult to explain and easy to dismiss. Between them, those companies raised somewhere around £150 million.
She is standing because she believes the SDP is right about almost everything and heard by almost nobody — and that the job now is not to think harder, but to be heard.
How I would lead
One person cannot do everything
Set direction, make decisions, assemble strong teams, delegate responsibility, and create more opportunities for members to take part.
Set direction
Be clear about priorities and the destination, so the whole party knows what it is trying to achieve.
Build teams
Actively seek people who know more about particular areas, and give them meaningful responsibility.
Create opportunities
Let members contribute at different levels — from occasional help to major responsibility.
Respect the structure
Build capability through the party's legitimate offices, committees and decision-making processes.
Proposed Deputy Leader
Chris Bowden
If elected, Eleanor intends to ask the NCC to approve Chris Bowden as Deputy Leader.
This section will set out the complementary experience Chris brings and how responsibilities would be divided between the two roles.
An intention to propose someone is deliberately distinguished from an appointment already made — formal appointment follows the NCC process.
The wider team
Much of the team still needs to be built
Not every role is filled. The six building areas create natural opportunities for members to step forward as the campaign develops.
See where you might contribute
Read the emerging work on candidates, fundraising, policy, organisation, communications and membership — then tell us if one of those areas speaks to your experience or interests.