IT’S easy to sit here in Jersey and look across the water and feel a little smug. While our Council of Monsters, sorry Ministers, has had its moments, they are nothing compared to the upheaval experienced by your Policy Council recently.

But before blaming individual ministers or States members for the fuss, we should look at the broader picture. The names give you a clue.

In Jersey, we have a Council of Ministers designed to ensure a corporate approach to government and therefore it’s a fairly strong executive.

In Guernsey you have a Policy Council, designed to ensure leading States members get together to formulate policy, with the departments carrying on in their own sweet way.

It’s what the electorate in each island apparently wanted and it’s what States members voted for.

Basically you get the type of government you deserve.

The fact that Jersey was prepared to bite the executive bullet might be why it appears there is stronger leadership in Jersey than there is in Guernsey.

I say ‘appears’ because that’s all it is really.

The change to ministerial government in Jersey was not as dramatic as has been made out and many of the improvements being made in the way the island is run could have happened under the old committee system.

On the other hand, of course, the changes that took place in Guernsey were even less dramatic.

There may be a lot of new titles and you have tackled your electoral system while Jersey is still dragging its feet, but you can hardly describe it as wholesale reform.

But then there aren’t many islanders who appear to want that, although they will complain bitterly when the system fails to work properly.

So the difference in government style in Jersey and Guernsey may largely be down to smoke and mirrors.

But, unfortunately, appearances do count. Government reform in Jersey was grasped as an opportunity by States members to do all the things they probably should have done before.

In Guernsey that was seen in a similar light and the result could have been similar if it hadn’t been for a silly spat over a tender.

The new chief minister will now have to repair the reputation of government in Guernsey while continuing to operate in a far-from-efficient system.

Perhaps by the sheer power of his personality he’s going to be able to give Guernsey the semblance of strong government that the public now apparently crave.

That’s until the next crisis, of course, when the failings of the system become apparent again.

Be that as it may, it’s time to rally round the new chief minister before any more damage is done.

No one should expect or apparently want changes in policy.

After, all the council did a good job in that role.

But perhaps there will be a change of emphasis. The airport and transport links might receive more attention, which this observer believes is sorely needed.

Another reason why we might be feeling smug over here is the restoration of the Heathrow link, which many people see as a crucial feature in the development of the short-break tourism market.

It’s true there are questions over the wisdom of doshing out large sums of taxpayers’ money to BMI in secret which has resulted in Flybe, for example, crying foul. But many think that the end justifies the means.

Guernsey’s tourism industry is feeling distinctly unloved and I don’t blame it, so perhaps the new chief minister will be able to persuade his colleagues to give this much-needed industry some kind of shot in the arm.

The most important thing that needs to be done is to get his ministers to work together to tackle some of these important issues.

There’s no point Commerce and Employment devising a cunning plan to help the tourism industry by making the airport cheaper to use if Public Services isn’t on board. Forgive the pun.

It was precisely to combat this silo mentality that reform was undertaken in the first place.

And although the outcome doesn’t make it much easier, the States is going to have to make do with what it’s got.

The departments are going to have to work together as though they were in one joined-up government, even if they aren’t.