New foriegn minister appointment criticised

The appointment of the Environment Minister as an assistant minister responsible for external relations has not proved universally popular.

Some Members have been questioning the need for the appointment, the way it has been presented as a ‘done deal’ by Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur and Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf, and Senator Cohen’s qualifications for the job.

And Senator Alan Breckon – who missed out on a Council of Ministers seat by a single vote in the 2008 ministerial elections – said that former Assistant Minister John Le Fondré had been dropped for straying too far from the influence of the ‘Ozouf Party’.