Servant leader offers unity and Churchill spirit

Those who wanted change have got it.

Deputy Peter Ferbrache does not exactly represent a clean slate but the break from the old regime is seismic and the chances are only one or two old hands will survive the cull.

Many islanders will cheer them on their way, convinced new faces will spur the States into action.

Gone too, though, is a huge amount of experience and understanding of how each committee works. The island will have leaders who are learning on the job while battling the biggest challenges of the post-war era.

Brexit will not wait for Guernsey’s government to go to school. Nor will the Covid-19 pandemic pause to give us a chance to catch our breaths. The economy needs urgent attention to mitigate the worst of the 2020 downturn.

This States has to function from day one, seamlessly passing over power as massive external and internal questions are addressed.

The new chief minister and his proposer did a good job of persuading a sizeable majority of deputies that he was the man to unite the Assembly and lead the island through this crisis.

This is a ‘servant leader’, a facilitator who will put himself to one side and empower others.

This is a flamboyant leader who likes to quote Churchill and promises action ‘not today, not tomorrow, now’. He is a Boris-like optimist who is keen to relate to working people’s concerns about putting food on the table.

Aside from that there was little substance. The soporific effect of over-regulation got a broadside and the GFSC can expect a call. Policy & Resources under Deputy Ferbrache will be reluctant borrowers. Civil servants are expected to fit in or ship out.

Above all, he promised change and unity.

For 23 of his colleagues that was enough.

Whether the remaining 17 can now be persuaded to embrace a new ‘collegiate’ Assembly remains to be seen.

The island has to hope so. The last States was defined by its first day and resentments over Deputy Ferbrache’s narrow loss that never went away.