Tristram Colledge finds Assistant Chief Minister Philip Ozouf brimming with optimism and ideas to put Jersey in the forefront of the global stage
BLACK hole? What black hole? Senator Philip Ozouf has no doubts about it: forget the current financial doom and gloom and the predicted £145 million shortfall by 2020 – Jersey is in a positive place and there is much to celebrate.
‘Political spin, self-delusion!’ some might cry, but the Assistant Chief Minister refuses to see things with less than rose-tinted vision, and such is the resolve of the man that when life throws him in at the deep end, he refuses to go under.
‘I do not recognise this phrase black hole because it gives the impression that somehow it is a problem of today,’ said the 45-year-old former Treasury Minister, who has spent nearly 16 years of his life in Island politics.
‘The situation is a challenge, but it’s doing what we have always done in Jersey – forecasting a problem and fixing it before it happens. And what’s bad about that? Are we going to have to make some adjustments about the way we spend taxpayers’ money? Yes. But what we are doing now is creating a place which is going to be a better, more efficient low-tax Jersey by 2020.’
It has hardly been an easy year for the Old Victorian. First, there was the nerve-shredding October election night when he narrowly clung onto his seat in the States, coming in eighth and final place in the Islandwide Senatorial vote and then facing a re-count after a challenge from former Senator Sarah Ferguson.
And only last month, on the final day of a trip to Nigeria, he was struck down by a mystery illness which put him in intensive care in a hospital in Lagos.
However, according to the Senator, neither of the episodes is anything to dwell on.
‘Being far from home and falling ill is not the greatest of experiences, but things happen, and I have had lots of support from my partner and my family,’ he said. ‘I am more enthusiastic about Africa and our role in overseas aid development than I was before.
‘The election did affect me, but I think it’s much better to go through life being an optimist, and I am generally an optimistic person. I think its far better to concentrate on things that are good.’
But even despite his unwavering positivism, with the Island’s current financial situation he admits that his popularity and that of the Council of Ministers has suffered a blow.
‘This Council of Ministers are going
to be unpopular in the short term,’ he admitted. ‘The challenge is to get your argument across and the reasons why you’re doing things in a complex world where people are bombarded with all different bits of information.’
And according to the Senator, throughout his political career, challenge is not something from which he has ever shied away.
‘I have never been afraid of taking on big challenges. Nobody would think I haven’t stepped up to the plate. I am immensely proud to be able to continue to make a contribution. I’ve been in politics since I was 29, so I’ve spent the majority of my professional life in politics. I think societies need people to come forward and step up to the plate.’
But following his reshuffle into the Chief Minister’s Department and the Economic Development Department, and now that he is spending more time in the London office, just what is the man who was once never out of the limelight up to?
One of his biggest projects is developing Jersey’s digital industry – something he says he is attempting to ‘turbo-charge’.
‘I am working with other ministers to harness the power of the digital revolution, because the future for Jersey is a highly skilled, mobile labour force.
‘Our job is to create jobs as fast as technology is going to erode them, because if we don’t have policies in place for this, we are going to see unemployment for Islanders go up.
‘My job is turbo-charging the technology sector to help our important industries, whether it’s construction, agriculture, fishing or tourism. I think that at some point in the financial crisis we lost our confidence and started to believe that the best was in the past. I don’t believe that. I believe the best is yet to come.’
Expanding Jersey’s use of the website
Airbandb – a system which enables users to rent out rooms or whole houses of local people, instead of staying in a hotel or guest house – is one of the areas he is seeking to address.
Aside from the digital sector, he has responsibility for financial services and he jokingly considers himself as Jersey’s ‘minister for trade’.
Indeed, from spending time with Senator Ozouf there is no doubt that he is incredibly passionate about the Island; as he speaks about his trips abroad, he uses his iPad to take me through countries in the world that have a road named Jersey – many of which he has visited.
‘When they say Jersey punches above its weight, I think we’ve got some real evidence to show that,’ he said. ‘There aren’t many other places that have a founding state in America and have a garment that bears its name, having originated here. I’m there to bring the world awareness of Jersey, to get the message out.’
And what about the man away from the world of politics? His private life, he says, is not something that he is keen to talk publicly about, but from what he does disclose, he is an enthusiastic opera fan, enjoys watching political television dramas, speaks French, German and Spanish, enjoys keeping fit and that both he and long-term partner Kevin have twin sisters.
‘It’s very important to have a good work-life balance and I have a public role and a private role,’ he said. ‘You can only be an effective politician if you manage your stress levels.
‘My partner and I are avid music fans. He is an opera critic and recently we saw the controversial William Tell opera, which I have to say is one of the best and most brilliant operas I have ever seen.’
So what does the future hold for someone who has seen just about everything that Island politics has to offer?
‘I love Jersey, I love Jersey politics and I love being part of the cut and thrust of working out what solutions to find, so at the moment this is what I want to be doing.’
When he does eventually call time on politics, his broad skill range would seemingly lend itself to a variety of roles and pastimes. But with his belief that black holes don’t exist, it might be best to avoid astronomy.
