He’s one of the good guys, after all, and a jolly nice chap too.
But today, in June 2017, and with a no-confidence motion hanging over his head, I am not as quick to arrive at the same conclusion.
So what’s changed?
Well, the man behind the proposition against Senator Gorst, Constable Chris Taylor, cited some main reasons for the move – the Innovation Fund fiasco, the repeated delays in bringing forward a plan to fund the new hospital, and the controversial reappointment of Senator Philip Ozouf as an Assistant Chief Minister.
But they are all just the icing on the cake.
Things have been heading in a downward spiral for many months now.
And Senator Gorst’s real failure is that he has not effectively addressed that pattern.
Plus, we are continuing to hear worrying things coming out of Cyril Le Marquand House.
There’s talk (which may not all be entirely true, although some of it certainly is) of secret meetings to which only select ministers are invited, of meddling from external parties outside of government, and of cliques and personality point-scoring.
Rumours are rife about where the real power lies, who is out to get whom and who is whispering in whose ears.
These things happen in politics, of course – always have and always will.
But in Jersey we have been lucky with the small, independent, and seemingly open system that we have in place, in which it is usually fairly obvious what is going on. Until now, that is.
So, next question, are we overreacting? And by we I mean all of us pondering Senator Gorst’s future as Chief Minister, not just Mr Taylor and co and the 80 or so per cent of Islanders who have so far responded to a JEP poll to say that they would support the vote of no confidence.
Well yes and no.
Yes, because actually he’s been running a pretty successful ship in some respects at the helm of a government that has been balancing the books, reforming itself internally, reducing unemployment, working to diversify the economy and making itself known on the international stage.
And no, because whatever those successes and failures, the truth is that reaching the point that a no-confidence vote is brought against the Chief Minister is a very sorry state of affairs – and that has happened on Senator Gorst’s watch.
Whatever the States decide next week when this proposition is due to be debated, it is important that all of this and more gets aired in the Chamber.
Whatever the actual outcome, it may help to clear the air, it may even change things for the better. And that includes Senator Gorst getting a mandate to stay in position. If nothing else, he’ll have heard, in no uncertain terms, where he needs to be doing better.
Last week Theresa May’s snap election gamble that she hoped would give her a stronger mandate to deliver Brexit backfired, and left her future as Prime Minister in doubt.
Senator Gorst’s future as Jersey’s Chief Minister is already in doubt, and, unless something dramatic happens between now and then, there’s no hope of him getting a strong mandate for anything right now.
But there is still a real chance that something good can come out of this whole sorry state of affairs.
I’ve often joked about the Chief Minister’s penchant for the phrase ‘draw a line under it and move on’. But in these circumstances, following next week’s debate, perhaps it might finally be apt.
After all, there is a risk that we have all – the Chief Minister, Mr Taylor and the general public following this political story – forgotten the most important thing in all of this – the best interests of the Island.
And right now, one way or another, a clean slate might be worth a shot.
