OPINION: ‘There should be a balanced and alternative viewpoint published’

I WRITE to the Guernsey Press really in the light of certain comments made both in your newspaper and outside on social media.

I am not a great follower of social media, but from time-to-time people pass me snippets of things that are said and written.

Most of the time, as a politician, especially somebody in my position, you just have to let things pass. Otherwise you will be responding almost every minute of every day to statements which were inaccurate, unfair, biased or simply untrue. There is only so much time in a day and so much energy that one has, and that time and energy has to be expended proportionately and appropriately.

I feel though it is in order for me to just set out a few of my current thoughts.

What regularly appears in the Guernsey Press are articles from Deputy St Pier (who also seems to be reported by the Guernsey Press in respect of almost any comment that he makes); Deputy Roffey, who is a close political supporter of Deputy St Pier; Horace Camp, a distant relative of mine, but in fact almost a disciple of Deputy St Pier and certainly a believer; Colonel Graham who, if your name is Inder, Meerveld or Dudley-Owen then woe betide you, but if your name is Roffey or St Pier, balm and acclaim is poured upon you; and last but not least, Richard Digard who sees bogey men and incompetence around every corner, save for himself, in whom he seemingly has absolute confidence.

I just think thus there should be a balanced and alternative viewpoint published occasionally. That would be a healthy and welcome addition in informing the public.

I mentioned in a previous article that in the view of some seemingly all was well in the world until October 2020 when I was elected president of the Policy & Resources Committee.

Before that we did not have an ageing population, we dealt with the infrastructure and invested appropriately, we had attended to all matters that needed to be attended to on a timely basis, we had a balanced book/set of accounts and finances, and we had no foreseeable problems.

History, or even the merest cursory glance towards reality, shows that that simply is not the case.

Also, during this Assembly it has been said that it is fractious, more tribalistic than ever before, and more confrontational.

The truth is that is generally said by those who are now in the minority, or perceive themselves to be in the minority, when perhaps in the last Assembly they perceived themselves to be in the majority.

The only difference thus is that whereas perhaps in the last Assembly, their will would on most occasions prevail, now sometimes they find themselves on the losing side of a vote and their wishes and exultations are not accepted.

What they should realise is that that is politics. That is how the real world works. More importantly, that is democracy.

But for some it all went wrong on that dreadful day in October 2020 when Deputy St Pier was not elected as president of the Policy & Resources Committee.

He had, of course, benefited considerably electorally, and more than most, from the Covid factor which he had effectively led at the political level for eight months or so and had to deal with the significant challenges (and they were undoubtedly real and deep and long-lasting) arising from Covid.

He apparently thought, and this comment comes from one of his close allies, Deputy Burford, that he was expecting to be re-elected as president of the Policy & Resources Committee.

She said, when making a speech in support of his nomination for membership of the Policy & Resources Committee last autumn, words to the effect that he took longer than he should to have recovered from what he saw was a disappointment in not being re-elected as the committee president.

All of that I can put behind me. All of that I think and believe is not important, and we should move on to the considerable problems that we face as an island, and as a Bailiwick, but an alternative view to your aforesaid columnists should be reported.

As my able colleague Deputy Bob Murray said recently on the radio, Guernsey has changed. It is not what it was. It is different. Those changes and differences have to be dealt with. We are now under the scrutiny of those that frankly do not favour us, do not like us, possibly envy us, and in any event would rather that we did not operate in the way that we do, which, by the way, is with decency, integrity and honesty.

That is a constant and daily challenge which I and my colleagues on the Policy & Resources Committee, and others, have to deal with. It is a business as usual, but a continual business as usual, requirement. It eats up lots of resources and lots of time.

More of the external pressures we face presently.

What really was the final straw that brought me to write in these terms was the comment, in my view the totally unnecessary comment, by Deputy St Pier on the last afternoon of the last States debate, effectively criticising the fact that four members of the Policy & Resources Committee were not in the chamber that afternoon. I was. The other four Members I know had valid and reasonable reasons for not being at the Assembly. They – none of them – were absent playing golf.

I felt Deputy St Pier was not being consistent, and it surprised me that Deputy St Pier was the first one to raise the issue of the absence of my Policy & Resources Committee colleagues that afternoon. He himself, during this calendar year, has been absent from States Meetings on a number of occasions.

On one occasion I believe he chose to go on holiday quite happily to Singapore, rather than attend the States meeting. He obviously made that choice and found that to be acceptable when we were, on the days that he was absent, among other things, debating important matters. He made a choice. It is a choice he feels he was entitled to make, but nevertheless it also allows him, in his view, to effectively criticise others who are not in attendance. Some may consider that to be inconsistent.

On that theme, I and very many other States Members, regularly attend briefings on all types of topics from just about every committee. I do my best to attend every one. I am sure there might be one or two that I miss, but that is through the demands of other duties rather than a desire not to attend.

Deputy Parkinson, to whom I will refer further just later on, wants a general election. Deputy St Pier complains on social media that Guernsey has already experienced a government that has achieved almost nothing in 34 months so ‘going full Belgian and operating without a government for the next 18 months is likely to make little discernible difference’.

I would just gently venture to suggest that both deputies would find more about what is happening in government if they attended more of the briefings. Deputy St Pier rarely attends. Deputy Parkinson almost never attends. It is not quite a record of 100% absences, but it is certainly significantly more than is on the face of it acceptable.

I very much admire the chutzpah of Deputies St Pier and Parkinson. They must be very comfortable in that they feel that they know everything and cannot gather knowledge from balanced briefings and with dialogue with colleagues in the Assembly. It must be very comforting to be that wise and that assured and comfortable with their own opinions. More about that tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Peter Ferbrache hits back at his most regular critics from within the Assembly.