Will council get a cuckoo in the nest?

‘This is a new team and a new era,’ Chief Minister Lyndon Trott boldly asserted as he gave early notice of his preferred choices for Policy Council ministers.

Tomorrow, the island will find out whether the House is prepared to back his judgement. The early signs are of several key battles.

It is a crucial session. If the chief minister cannot easily rid himself of errant ministers once elected, nor force them into line, it is vital that he or she gets the vast majority of their picks in the team in the first place.

Otherwise, the top role’s already tenuous authority can be further undermined by a cuckoo in the nest.

It seems inevitable, however, that there will be some casualties. Neither of the two previous chief ministers managed a full set. In 2004, Laurie Morgan got 8 out of 11 – the States preferred Mike Torode to Hunter Adam in Home and Mary Lowe to Jean Pritchard in Social Security. His choice of Peter Roffey as deputy chief minister was also overturned in favour of Bernard Flouquet.

Mike Torode fared a bit better three years later with 8 out of 10 ministers and Stuart Falla as his choice as deputy chief minister. Ironically, it was Mary Lowe and Bernard Flouquet who failed this time, despite having the chief minister’s backing.

Some intriguing choices by Deputy Trott make tomorrow’s series of elections impossible to predict with certainty. The chance of upsets seems high.

Will Deputy Charles Parkinson be unchallenged for Treasury? This, after all, is a man who resigned from the same department while Deputy Trott was minister because of differences over policy. Yet he will now be entrusted with implementing those very policies.

The House must be convinced that such a challenging arrangement can work.

It may also believe that Deputy De Lisle’s tenure at Environment must come to an end.

His department has come under fierce scrutiny. Critics inside and outside the House have lined up to pour scorn on his leadership.

Yet the man himself in undeterred and convinced his ‘green credentials’ are needed in this vital post. Will his colleagues agree?