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There might be all-out 'Warr' over the Housing brief... but the current Education Minister has confirmed she will not be fighting to keep her position, stating that "politics has prevented" her from being able to continue.
The confirmation that Inna Gardiner would not be standing came after Chief Minister-designate Lyndon Farnham shared his preferred picks for his new Council of Ministers yesterday.
Deputy Farnham – who replaces ousted Chief Minister Kristina Moore – wishes to restructure the role of Children and Education Minister, and said that he would initially appoint Constable Richard Vibert in that position, before splitting into two new portfolios: Minister for Children and Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning.
As soon as the splitting has been approved, he said he would like to see Reform Jersey member and former teacher Rob Ward in the latter role.
Deputy Gardiner announced this morning that, with a "heavy heart", she would not be standing for either position after 19 months I the role.
I will miss dedicated staff who works tirelessly on front line and behind the scenes at the Children, Young people and Skills department. Here my email to thank all of them which I sent with heavy heart. Thank you all for everything. pic.twitter.com/ZGu6MwJdkZ
— Inna Gardiner Deputy for St Helier North (@innagardiner) January 30, 2024
Describing serving in the role as a "privilege", she went on to state: "I hope you can appreciate that whilst I absolutely want to continue as Minister to maintain the excellent progress we have made since July 2022, there is much more to the role that takes place outside of our departmental interactions.
"I cannot dellver as a Minister without being assured that the Chief Minister and his Council will be an effective and cohesive team who I can rely upon to actively support and where appropriate finance, the vision, policies and priorities we have, to make the lives of all children better. It has been a really hard decision to make, and I have put a lot of time and thought into it over the last couple of weeks."
She said she was proud of the "many significant achievements and significant progress" made over the past 19 months and said that she "really wanted to continue, but politics has prevented that sadly".
Deputy Gardiner said she would now consider what roles, if any, she might take up "on the non-executive side until the next election", and pledged to continue to "champion for children and education" regardless.
States Members will this morning begin the process to appoint each Minister.
Incumbent Housing Minister David Warr has confirmed he will be contesting Deputy Farnham's choice, Reform Jersey Leader Deputy Sam Mézec, for the role. In particular, he said he would like to continue work on the Residential Tenancy Law.
Last night, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he had a supporter as far afield as Indonesia who would be encouraging their local representative to support him.
The world is watching!
— David Warr (@WarrOnWords) January 29, 2024
Hi David, I am out in Indonesia, but just seeing the news regarding the postion of housing minister, if I am able to support you by contacting my local representative I would be happy to do so, should that be of any help..
Deputy Mézec said last night that, if elected, he would like to establish strong communications with the Jersey Landlords Association.
Deputy Warr appeared to hit back with another post on X, stating: "If this isn't cynical I don't know what is.
"If elected tomorrow, I am determined to improve communications on housing-related policies coming from the government.
"I've spent weeks consulting on the RTL and criticised all the way by Reform. Outrageous!"
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