A question of personality
THE new States are still something of an unknown quantity. Their ability as politicians/decision makers will only become clear when they tackle the myriad of difficult decisions that lie ahead. Equally important in many ways will be their ability to work well together. If they can avoid personality politics getting in the way of objective decision making, that will be a huge bonus.
THE new States are still something of an unknown quantity. Their ability as politicians/decision makers will only become clear when they tackle the myriad of difficult decisions that lie ahead. Equally important in many ways will be their ability to work well together. If they can avoid personality politics getting in the way of objective decision making, that will be a huge bonus.
Actually, an absence of backbiting and personal spats won't be something new for Guernsey politics. Rather, it will signal a return to business-as-usual after eight years in which the States has been plagued by damaging personality politics. Of course, there were always examples of antipathy between individual deputies, but way back it never really seemed to distort policy-making.
So why did this unhealthy trend towards tetchy personal battles and away from arguing passionately on the merits of the policies alone develop? I think there were three reasons.
1. A few ego-driven deputies seemed to compensate for the lack of any party political clashes in Guernsey by getting their adrenaline rush through petty political intriguing.
It made them feel 'in the thick of it' and like big beasts in the very small jungle of local politics.
2. It's a great defence mechanism.
If another deputy exposes genuine holes in your policies, it's so easy to call foul and suggest the attacks are driven by personalities. Other members are then very wary of joining in that scrutiny, just in case they too are tagged with the 'personality politics' label.
3. The modern media love a good row and will gleefully report on a clash between deputies. Of course their final conclusion will be that such behaviour is unbecoming to those in public office, but while it's going on, it provides very good copy.
Looking back at the individual clashes that happened during my early days in the States, they were largely driven by genuine disagreements over policy. These may have led to passionate – sometimes angry – exchanges, but they never seemed to be the result of raw personality politics.
Deputy Bill Green and I were such constant political sparring partners that once, when he was head of Civil Defence, he persuaded the organisers of a simulated nuclear exercise to drop a bomb on my flat – goodbye Guernsey. I still went to his house the next week for a party.
Another example was the constant arguments between Conseiller Roger Berry and my former Vale colleague, Deputy Pat Mellor. One such angry exchange about alleged gaseous discharges from the Bordeaux tip brought her perilously close to using the prohibited word 'liar' in the House and earned her the nickname Methane Mellor. She later proved her point, with near disastrous results, by using a cigarette lighter on top of the landfill site.
Far closer to pure personality politics was the advice to fellow States members from Vale douzaine representative George Domaille. He suggested they vetted amendments by looking at who had signed them and putting those bearing the monogram ADC Webber straight in the bin. The suggestion was, of course, outrageous, but in George's defence, the provocation was extreme.
But in more recent times, the trend towards genuine personality politics has been worrying. I first came across it in its ugliest form when subjected to an aggressive verbal assault, which seemed likely to become physical, for having the temerity to successfully propose Laurie Morgan as chief minister.
Over the next few years, I saw quite a few examples of personality-driven political manoeuvring, one of which ended up costing the taxpayer millions.
While it's always hard to tell from the outside, it appeared as if things had got slightly worse in the last Assembly, with some of the longest-serving members being the biggest culprits. Maybe they'd just picked up too much baggage along the way – but that's no excuse. They were elected (and paid) to use their judgement, with an open mind, not to indulge in the political equivalent of schoolyard scraps. Maybe that was one factor that made the last States so unpopular with voters.
That said, in any given assembly, most deputies want absolutely no part of this behaviour. Usually there are only a handful of culprits and the rule of thumb is that those who most often allege personality politics are those who most often indulge in it. With so many brand new deputies, there's never been a better time to put a stop to this nonsense.
I'm actually rather optimistic that they will.
