A NEWLY-ELECTED St Saviour Deputy is hoping to secure an Assistant Ministerial role in the new government.
Former Deloitte audit partner and former States Treasury Department projects director Chris Leck – who polled third in the parish with 1,691 votes – said he would be willing to support any minister he had “chemistry with” but would value being able to draw on his experience in health or planning.
“I really would be pleased to be anywhere, provided it’s in government,” he said.
“I don’t want to sit on the backbench or scrutiny.As an auditor, I have spent my life looking backwards… I would like to be involved in a forward-looking role.”
Deputy Leck told the JEP that he had made the decision to stand “quite late in the day”.
“I woke up on 5 April and said to my wife, ‘Right, I’m going to do it,'” he recalled.
As his wife, Mary O’Keeffe, had stood in four elections, most recently in 2022 as part of the Alliance party, he said that he had some sense of the demands of campaigning in advance.
Mr Leck said he had known “from the start” that he wanted to run as an independent, “even though I liked what Value Jersey were doing”.
Having seen her run with Jersey Alliance, he said he knew “from the start” that he would run as an independent, “even though I liked what Value Jersey were doing”.
Reflecting on the day of the election, he recalled that St Saviour’s Parish Church was “heaving with people”, but that seeing neighbours turn up calmed some of his nerves.
Reflecting on election night, he said that he hadn’t expected the result.
Going to bed after sunrise on a Monday morning made for a painful start for the new Deputies whose first induction session was 8.45am on Tuesday.
“They don’t give you quite enough time to recover!” he joked.
Wednesday also involved further induction sessions, he said, with newcomers introduced to everything from the business of the States to tech policies and the details of how the Island’s pension system works.
Since standing, he said he was already receiving 25 to 50 emails a day from potential parishioners – a number that is only increasing post-election, and that was before counting phone calls.
“It’s staggering – I’m someone who likes to keep their inbox clear.”
In previous positions, he said, he was used to having a full-time assistant who helped with that task, but only ministers get a dedicated assistant.
