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WHEN I wrote a couple of months ago that the chief minister's globetrotting odyssey should be subject to a strict cost/benefit analysis, some readers assumed I was suggesting that he should stay strictly island-bound. I wasn't. I meant just what I said.
WHEN I wrote a couple of months ago that the chief minister's globetrotting odyssey should be subject to a strict cost/benefit analysis, some readers assumed I was suggesting that he should stay strictly island-bound. I wasn't. I meant just what I said.
Certainly the belief of some States members and business leaders that all external contact is worthwhile, simply because it raises the island's profile, is misplaced.
Such international attention-seeking can be an expensive double-edged sword.
Equally wrong is the cynical view that every time the chief minister jets off somewhere it's a useless junket, wasting taxpayers' money.
At times Guernsey has suffered from being misunderstood outside our shores and it's worth trying to correct that.
What is needed is some real thought over how Guernsey carries out its external relations. What level of international intercourse is appropriate? Who should do it? Who should it be targeted at? What is the proper split in our senior politicians' commitments between domestic and overseas duties?
Certainly, over the last 18 months the States has gone from famine to feast with its external contacts.
For decades Guernsey's government was very inward looking, only really interacting with politicians from elsewhere through the rather stilted and pointless Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
A debate over 'Young people and the future of the Commonwealth' isn't going to change a thing in the real world.
By contrast it now seems as if our chief minister is constantly criss-crossing the globe from China to Mexico, via Brussels and the UK, covering 40,000 miles. Why the sudden change in approach?
It must partly be due to the States making 'developing the island's international personality' a top strategic aim.
HMG had commented that Guernsey was the least active of all the Crown Dependencies when it came to external affairs.
The worry was that over time our autonomy would be eroded because decision-makers elsewhere understood neither our constitutional position nor how we use it.
However, this corporate desire to raise our profile can't really explain the sudden quantum leap in the States' out-of-island activities. One would have expected a gradual ramping up of external relations rather than a sudden explosion.
To be fair, external threats have come along thick and fast recently and that calls for more diplomacy, but I suspect the main reason for the step change is that the chief minister sees it as giving more meaning to his rather nebulous role.
It's telling that it's the CM who seems to be carrying out nearly all of these overseas commitments. One would have expected that the task of talking about our economy and taxation system would have fallen naturally to our T&R minister, who surely is the greater expert in this field.
It's been said that the presence of the chief minister helps to open doors but anybody would be hard-pushed to feel snubbed by Guernsey taking its
finance minister to talk money.
My real concern is not the CM going overseas to bat for Guernsey but that it's becoming such a dominant part of his job that he seems to be away almost as much as he is here.
There is a huge leadership role to be carried out in Guernsey to get us through tough times. Strategic policy co-ordination and building an esprit de corps are both vital if the States are to work effectively, rather than descending into internal rows with factions pulling in different directions.
I am not talking about edicts coming down to departments from a cabinet. I am talking about the CM and deputy CM working to understand all of the major issues facing departments and then helping them to resolve them
That would involve sitting in regularly as observers at departmental board meetings and getting below the skin of these issues. It then involves ensuring that one department isn't frustrating the legitimate aims of another.
On a broader front, it is about leading the Policy Council in devising strategic policy for approval, or amendment, by the States. It is then about ensuring that departmental actions are supporting those agreed aims.
If, alongside those vital domestic tasks, the CM spends some time outside Guernsey fighting our corner in really meaningful forums, then my reaction is, 'good on you, it's about time we did that'.
However, domestic policy must not be allowed to suffer because of an addictive taste for the international stage.
Once again it is all about proportionality, balance, and a proper cost/benefit analysis.
