MAYBE it was the cooler weather, the sight of the finishing line, or the prospect of the “after-show” drinks they had arranged, but there was no shortage of energy about the 17 Senatorial candidates as they convened for their last-hurrah hustings.
After 11 official events around the parishes, the roadshow culminated at the Radisson Blu Hotel in St Helier, which was close to capacity as moderator Gwyn Garfield-Bennett called everyone to order on the dot of 7pm.
Initially it was a bit too frenzied, with everyone zipping through their two-minute slot and trying – but mostly failing – not to get distracted by the sound of the moderator’s bell signalling they had 30 seconds left.
The event became a bit looser, and therefore more interesting, once we got to questions, and straight-talking Deputy Tom Binet was off the leash.
Responding to a question on whether candidates had signed a pledge coordinated by 34 charities, incorporating a commitment to legislation around modern slavery and hate crime and a review of work permits, Deputy Binet revealed he was not that keen on pledges.
“I must have had probably 20 pledges sent to me and the tone seems to be that you have to sign up, or be shamed,” he said. “If anybody wants to shame me, you go right ahead, it doesn’t bother me at all – I’m a serious person and I put a lot of my own time and money into charity work, so I really am very, very uncomfortable about pledges.”
The candidates were also asked who they would want as Chief Minister, and Deputy Binet shot from the hip there was well
“I’ll be looking for somebody who has got a very, very clear vision, and if I’m allowed to use a small expletive, I’ll be looking for somebody with the balls to actually make it happen,” he said, with no clarification about what he meant by “it”.
Although Deputy Binet did say he would look at all 17 people, in an apparent bid not to exclude the female candidates, that didn’t stop some kick-back from his rivals.
Deputy Elaine Millar preferred the word cojones to balls, albeit they both refer to the same, male, body part.
“Yes, I would like to see a Chief Minister with cojones, although I’d also like to remind everybody that there are four women on this panel, so our’s are metaphorical rather than real, and we also want somebody that has not got more cojones than brains,” she said.
Another of the four female candidates, Deputy Helen Miles, was also affronted. “Clearly not any of us, because according to Deputy Binet, we don’t have the necessary physical attributes,” she said, drawing applause.
Although the questioner had tried to prevent fence-sitting by using the word “want”, many candidates weren’t about to pin their colours to any particular mast.
Deputies Steve Luce and Ian Gorst said they would like, if elected, to carry on their respective roles in Environment and External Relations, with Deputy Gorst teasing from his position in the centre of the stage that there were three candidates to his left who he could vote for… and three to the right, but of course there were no names.
Deputy Sam Mézec said we should follow the UK, and go for the leader of the largest party, with an element of tongue-in-cheek given that his party – Reform Jersey – could only win a maximum of 16 of the 49 seats. He added that he would also be open to a “conversation” with the current Chief Minister about continuing collaboration in the next political term, although “not at all costs”.
Deputy Lyndon Farnham did say he would “allow his name to be put forward” if he was elected and received a strong enough indication of support, and he was also backed by three other candidates: newcomers Martin Aliga and Bernard Place both used the word “continuity” as an advantage for keeping Deputy Farnham in his role, with former Senator Alan Breckon saying he felt the incumbent “could do the job” and offered “stability”.
Contributions from the other candidates included:
- Some wishful thinking from Alan Le Pavoux, who said his dream Chief Minister candidate would be an amalgam of Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa.
- Serena Kersten Guthrie: “My whole campaign is teamwork and collaboration – we need someone who wants to take people with them, someone that does not have the ego and arguably it is better if they don’t have all the answers and want to use the experts available.”
- Given it was the final event, Mary Le Hegarat wanted to thank all those who had proposed and seconded her, listing them one by one.
- Textbook avoidance of the Chief Minister question by former Treasury Minister Alan Maclean, who said: “I would go to interview and have proper discussions with the leading candidates to understand who has got a long-term vision for the Island, who has got the courage to actually see that vision through, and who is a team player that can deliver for the Island?”
- Guy de Faye said the difficulty with keeping the Island’s roads in a fit state had been an issue from when he was Transport Minister two decades ago, and that it was exacerbated by some roads being in parish control and that he had been dealing with 12 different roads committees.
- After backing Deputy Binet as his pick for the top job, Karl Busch closed the session with a witty list of thank yous, although he came close to being timed out by the moderator.
- Sir Mark Boleat said: “We have got to know each other and views are being formed, but the right discussion is after the election – the results will influence people’s views. So that’s the discussion for Monday.”
Giggles and groans at the hustings
What made everyone giggle?
- After two previous speakers trailed his knowledge on the knotty issue of getting information out of government, Sir Mark Boleat joked that he should be allowed an extra 30 seconds as he was answering for three people, plus an extra ten seconds because people had interrupted by laughing. He disagrees with Deputy Gorst’s description of the government accounts as “virtually unreadable”, saying “totally unreadable” would be the more accurate phrase.
What made everyone groan?
- “I come from Uganda” – Martin Aliga elicited some introspection around the room as he suggested that perhaps the roads in Jersey were not as bad as people were making out, and suggesting this was part of many Islanders’ fondness for complaining, rather than being grateful for what they had. Not so much a groan as a home truth.
Opinion – Tom Innes
After covering Constable and Deputy hustings so far, the last Senatorial event was the first I had attended in person.
It was good to witness a polite and good-humoured session, with genuine respect among the candidates. They even said they were going to have a drink afterwards… a far cry from some of the nastiness that’s been a growing feature of the campaign over the past few weeks.
What struck me was that while I could not, hand on heart, say that I thought every person on the stage would make a good States Member, I reckoned there were far more than nine candidates in the line-up who could do a pretty decent job, whether through their experience or the fresh perspective and skills they’d bring to the Assembly.
The interesting thing, once the results start coming in, will be to see how well the newcomers do against those returning to the fray, or existing ministers. How much of a head start will one get, or not, from being a current minister?
Those who failed to be elected as Senators used to get a second go when elections for Deputy and Constable were held a few weeks later, but now everyone is elected on the same day, some capable candidates are going to miss out. Arguably those in this group might have walked in had they opted to fight their battle among the somewhat more mixed-ability Deputy fields in some of the districts, but having made their bed, they have no choice but to lie in it.
