Select a region
Jersey's Chief Minister will be fighting for his political future today, with an early Express poll showing the deep divisions among States Members over his leadership. That poll was taken before last night's shock announcement of the CEO's departure.
Some are calling the vote of-confidence “irresponsible” in the middle of a pandemic and others saying “poor leadership” should be dealt with swiftly.
Senator Kristina Moore made the official move to topple Senator John Le Fondré in the wake of the bitter row over Chief Executive Charlie Parker’s second job at UK real estate firm New River, for which the Chief Minister gave verbal permission.
But Senator Moore said her push was about more than just the “New River debacle”, citing the hospital saga, population policy, Government expenditure, oversight of the civil service and handling of the covid-19 pandemic among her reasons for bringing the motion.
Pictured: The vote of no-confidence was brought after it emerged that Senator John Le Fondré had allowed Chief Executive Charlie Parker to accept a position as NED of New River without the proper permission from the SEB.
Filed last Monday, the proposition was supported by Senator Steve Pallett; the Constables of St. Saviour, St. Brelade, and St. Mary, Sadie Le Sueur-Rennard, Mike Jackson and John Le Bailliy, as well as Deputies Louise Doublet and Steve Ahier.
If the proposition is adopted, nominations for the position of Chief Minister will have to be submitted before the 14 November.
The election would then go ahead on 20 November, with Ministers being elected two days after the end of that meeting.
Pictured: The signatories of the vote of no-confidence motion.
This means that the States’ meeting scheduled for 16 November would be cancelled, along with the key debates on whether to approve Overdale as the new hospital site and whether to create a £50m Fiscal Stimulus Fund to help boost the covid-hit economy by investing in entities like the Opera House, Digital Jersey and Jersey Business.
Ahead of the vote, Express contacted States Members to ask how they would vote...
Outside of the signatories, Reform Jersey’s elected representatives were among the first to publicly announce their support for Senator Moore’s bid after the Children and Housing Minister, Senator Sam Mézec and the Assistant Minister for Culture, Deputy Montfort Tadier, both resigned from Government.
In his resignation letter, Senator Mézec cited frustrations over the Chief Minister’s failure to back plans to regulate landlords and boost the minimum wage.
Deputy Inna Gardiner also said she would be supporting the proposition, explaining it hadn’t been an “easy decision."
Pictured: The Chief Minister will not be able to count on five votes of support from Reform Jersey.
The St. Helier representative said she initially didn’t sign the proposition as she wanted to give the Chief Minister a chance to address the situation. However, she said it hadn’t been “mishandled on so many levels” that she was left feeling Senator Le Fondré is not the leader the Assembly needs.
While “everyone makes mistakes”, Deputy Gardiner said she had been disappointed by the way the Chief Minister had blamed the media, the Communications Unit and States Members for the crisis while refusing to take any responsibility for it.
“As a business person, poor leadership should be dealt with without any hesitation,” she added.
Her comments were echoed by that of her fellow St. Helier Deputy, Mary Le Hegarat, who said: "I don’t think the leadership has been strong over the least two and a half years, and I think things have happened over the last six months have just escalated it really.”
St. Saviour Deputy Jess Perchard, who has previously blasted the Government for not pursuing an elimination strategy in relation to covid, announced her support on social media after contacting the Council of Ministers.
Members are being called upon to pin their colours to the post. I’ve responded openly with my position, but for the avoidance of doubt, on Friday, I wrote to the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers to inform them that I would be voting for the vote of no confidence tomorrow.
— JessPerchard (@JessePerchard) November 9, 2020
Deputy Steve Luce, the former Minister for the Environment, also said he was “very much in favour” of the proposition.
The majority of Ministers publicly shared their support for the Chief Minister, including the Health Minister, Deputy Richard Renouf.
“I think it’s an irresponsible step at this time when we are trying to cope with a pandemic,” he said, adding the disruption caused by any change in leadership risked endangering the island’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.
Pictured: Five Ministers - Deputies Kevin Lewis, Susie Pinel, Richard Renouf and John Young as well as Constable Len Norman - publicly voiced their support for Senator Le Fondré.
Treasury Deputy Susie Pinel, who sits on the States Employment Board, echoed his comments, saying the middle of a pandemic was “a particularly bad time” to bring a vote of no confidence.
The Home Affairs Minister, Constable Len Norman, said he would be listening to the debate but expected to vote for the Chief Minister as a member of the Council of Ministers. “I just hope [the vote of no-confidence] is not successful,” he added.
Deputy Kevin Lewis, the Infrastructure Minister, also voiced his support for Senator Le Fondré but denied making any comments.
Meanwhile, the Environment Minister, Deputy John Young, said he would also be supporting Senator John Le Fondré despite being unhappy about Mr Parker’s second job and the way the issue had been handled.
“I am absolutely not happy with the Chief Executive Officer’s position and I have made it quite plain to the Chief Minister,” Deputy Young said.
“For the CEO to put the future of the government in risk and jeopardy is not acceptable. We cannot have an autocracy. Ministers are in charge of civil servants, not the other way around.”
Pictured: The Environment Minister said he was concerned about the time it would take for a new Council of Ministers to be elected.
He however voiced concerns that a lot of work of progress, particularly around the environment and affordable housing, would be lost or set back if the Council of Ministers was to change.
He also said he was concerned about the fact that a new Council of Ministers would not be in post until at least 27 November, due to the timescale set in the law.
Assistant Treasury Minister Deputy Lindsay Ash also said he wouldn’t be supporting the vote, arguing that there was no need to do anything drastic. “People are advocating that we change Government, and I don’t see that there’s any reason to do so particularly as thus far I think John’s handled the covid situation well – you wouldn’t compare us with other jurisdictions, there’s been a calm and prompt response,” he said.
"I think the people who are bringing it... some of it is political opportunism by people who thought they should have had the job, and others who don’t like Charlie Parker."
Pictured: One States Member said there was no good Chief Ministerial alternative to step into the breach.
Another Minister said they would be supporting the Chief Minister as well, based on “certain conditions”, while a Deputy said they didn’t play “confrontational politics."
The latter said they believed the Chief Minister had shown "poor judgment" in approving the New River role, but that the handling of covid had been "amazing."
Another States Member said they would not be voting in favour of the vote of no-confidence due to lack of a good Chief Ministerial alternative to step into the breach.
Around 10 States Members told Express they were still on the fence about the vote and would be listening to the debate to make their decision.
Some said they would need to see a 'robust' response to the CEO's second job in order to feel they could support the Chief Minister, meaning last night's announcement that Charlie Parker had agreed to step down could be the deciding factor.
With the numbers of States Members declaring themselves in favour of the 'no confidence' vote and those against nearly equally poised, these swing voters could either save Senator Le Fondré’s position or bring his downfall.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.