Green Party Faces Stasi Comparison Over Diversity Training The Green Party has been criticized for diversity training that asks members to report jokes and audit friendships, drawing comparisons to the East German Stasi. The Green Party has been accused of encouraging its members to act like the East German Stasi after diversity training instructed them to police friends' jokes and report banter to officials. The training, seen by The Mail on Sunday, was delivered this summer by a party official and aimed to crack down on jokes between friends even when those being mocked are absolutely fine. Diversity Training and Member ReactionsMembers were told to document incidents if they overheard a joke they felt uncomfortable with, including what happened, dates, times, and locations. This record could then be passed to party officials for use in a complaint, though members were told this detailed note-taking should not replace immediate action. The training used an example of a Green activist entering a meeting and seeing people making derogatory jokes about the nationality of a Polish person present.The official suggested that even if the Polish person was laughing and fine with the jokes, the party wants to be a safe space for everyone, so derogatory jokes are not allowed. A number of responses were suggested, including speaking to a colleague, using reasoning to work out why the joke is funny, or interrupting the situation by changing the subject, creating diversion, or giving the targeted person an opportunity to leave. The key message was not to do nothing.In another example, a woman named Carol told Steve after a meeting that a good man is hard to find and it is a waste that he is not straight. Members were asked to consider if this was acceptable and were informed that such comments could be classed as sexual harassment, depending on context, effect on Steve, and whether there is a pattern of similar behavior.Affinity Bias Exercise and Political CriticismIn a separate equalities seminar on tackling bias, also held during the summer, participants wrote down the names of their five closest friends and ticked each name if they shared the same ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, or level of education. The instructor then asked members to reflect on what it showed, explaining that this can be something called affinity bias, as studies show people extend greater trust, positive regard, cooperation, and empathy to those more similar to themselves. She advised focusing on forming diverse friendships to tackle biases.The Green Party dismissed criticism of the training. However, David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, told The Mail on Sunday that the leaked diversity lectures were more akin to Stasi East Germany than 2026. He added that Green Party membership should rest assured that everyone else already assumes they have no sense of humour whatsoever and suggested they print T-shirts with fun police on them.Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake added that the Greens seemingly have time to police the private lives and friendships of their members but are unable to tackle the blatant anti-Semitism within their own ranks. The controversy highlights ongoing debates over diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within political parties.