The winners and losers on the political platform

LOST CAUSE OF THE YEAR

The Comprehensive Spending Review

So here’s the problem: the idea of cutting spending sounds absolutely brilliant, right up to the point at which spending starts getting cut. And then it starts sounding bad.

The Comprehensive Spending Review started by aiming at £50 million in cuts, rapidly rising to £65 million as confidence grew wildly. But when parents of children at fee-paying schools realised that this would mean bigger school bills, they drew the line abruptly.

The lobbying effort running into the States debate this summer was unprecedented, with calls, letters and emails running wild – and remember this was all after the two per cent rise in GST, which by comparison passed without a whimper.

The result was that the Education department’s cuts were overturned and thus, the CSR package fell down before you could say ‘hubris’.

The other thing that fell down was Education Minister James Reed, who could not hang on to his job in the ministerial elections in November. His handling of the cuts programme did not exactly help.

MOMENT OF THE YEAR

Election night

No doubt about this at all. Nine casualties on the night in addition to all those who stood down meant that when the new House met for the first time, there were 14 new politicians in the States Chamber.

By comparison with the elections in 2008, 2005 and 2002, that represented a huge shift – more than a quarter of the House.

The casting out of Senator Terry Le Main after more than three decades and the loss of ‘foreign minister’ Freddie Cohen and Transport Minister Mike Jackson were particularly noteworthy.

There wasn’t a pronounced swing to the left or the right, but the main message was clear: people were fed up with the States and wanted someone to pay for it.

This was what elections should always be like. Given that the next one is likely to involve a further reduction of seats, 2014 is looking good, too.

SHOCK OF THE YEAR

Senator Ian Gorst becomes Chief Minister

Shocking? You bet. But only in a good way. Senator Ian Gorst isn’t just the best man for the job, he’s the best politician we’ve had for a very long time.

For the first time, Jersey has a Chief Minister who understands the pressure of bringing up a young family, who has a real background of bringing politicians of different tribes together, and who isn’t out of touch with the rest of the population in terms of wealth or age.

He is also a qualified accountant and he has put together the best Council of Ministers we’ve seen yet, mixing different views and backgrounds.

Add to that the fact that he is not a spin maniac or a control freak and it all starts to look suspiciously rosy.

Basically, there is more reason to be cheerful about politics now than there has been for a long time. Stop laughing at the back.

HERO OF THE YEAR

John Mills

Forget everything I just said about Senator Gorst – this is the big one. The most coveted title in Island politics has still yet to go to a politician; instead, it goes to far more lovable, dynamic and cuddly recipients, like a lawyer and a plastic folder.

This year it goes to a retired civil servant. Former Policy and Resources chief officer John Mills led this year’s revelations about exam results after forcing the department to reveal them using the code of practice on public access to official information.

The figures did not tally with the picture painted by the Education department over the last few years; instead they showed some worrying results in States secondary schools.

The department tried to paint all this as an attack on children by a hostile media, but the truth was that there was a big issue here which was not being discussed by anyone – parents or politicians.

In some ways, this was the biggest political story of the year – and there wasn’t a politician in sight.

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR

The Jersey Evening Post

Clearly, it was us. We admit it. We’re biased: we don’t like politicians. But judging from the election results, neither do the rest of you, so that’s OK.

There was a telling moment on election day when we were accused on Twitter of ‘disgraceful bias’ in favour of an election candidate, only to be followed moments later by an accusation of ‘disgraceful bias’ against him.

Says it all really. Wittering on about ‘the meedja’ became increasingly common as the year progressed, as more and more witless politicians realised that it was easier than doing any actual work.

Besides, if you’re looking for an expert on unbiased presentation of facts and analysis, who else would you turn to but a politician?