No resignation from deputy chief
Wednesday 26th November 2008, 2:30PM GMT.
Deputy Bernard Flouquet at last Thursday’s press conference, where he made the controversial comment. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0674429)
DEPUTY chief minister Bernard Flouquet made no reference to resigning when he addressed the States this morning over the racist ‘golliwog’ joke he told at press conference last week.
He repeated his unequivocal apology and said what he had done was foolish.
He said the ‘joke’ did not represent his views or those of government and admitted it had become an embarrassment.
Some States members were expecting Deputy Flouquet to resign from his international roles, including that of deputy chief minister, within the States and are known to be unhappy that he remains in the posts.
- To read Guernsey Press stories in full click here for subscription details. Individual editions are now available online.
Island Life
All about Guernsey
Ambassador of the Year 2011
History & Heritage
Visitor Information
Guernsey's government
Campaigns
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
This is Guernsey
Guernsey Press
Useful Links
Unbelievable!! the arrogance of the man, come on Guernsey’s States members do the right thing (for once) and get rid of him.
Report abuse
Unacceptable !!!! Not just embarrassment to the States of Guernsey but to the Island and its citizen.
Report abuse
Deputy Flouquet had the majority support of the Policy Council, The States and received overwhelming support from public and business contacts.
The remarks he made cannot be deemed so offensive as Channel Television and other local media are quite happy to repeat it as often as possible. Of course Max Clifford – who knows a thing or two – deemed the joke as not being racist.
Report abuse
He shouldn’t have said it, and very foolish to make a joke at a press conference!!!!! but it was a mistake and he has apologised. He should not lose his job over it. And why is it ok to call guerns donkeys and Jersey people crappos and jocks and the rest of it. If we’re going to have a rule then it should apply to all nationalities.
Report abuse
This guy makes Guernsey look like a joke!
To Suzi – It is not okay to call someone a “golliwog” because it is extremely derogatory to persons of african descent. To me that is obvious. For Guernsey people, the term “donkey” is not derogatory (in most settings), not sure about the word “crappo” though. Im definite that if Barrack Obama made a joke about us being all “inbreds” we would be highly offended, i am equally offended by being seen as an uneducated racist island which it how we are viewed now on the world stage thanks to Flouquet.
Report abuse
Maybe its time to lay the whole silly, blown out of proportion affair to rest. I don’t think any piece of IMPORTANT news has ever had this much publicity!
Report abuse
This is not over. Flouquet and his apologists will rue the day he put his career ahead of Guernsey’s reputation. The next probe into ‘tax havens’ will dig this up and it will be flung back in our faces. A ‘mistake’ for Flouquet will become a disaster for Guernsey.
Report abuse
Henry
I know he’s your mate and all but he should not be allowed to get away with crass ignorance. I have met NO-ONE who thinks that he should remain as an external ambassador.
Is that what modern Guernsey expects from its leaders? In no other sphere would a public spokesperson get away with this. Only because the arrogant circle of Guernsey ‘elders’ that have deemed this acceptable is this man still going to tarnish the media with honking regularity. He was unpopular in his parish, he’s been unpopular in his roles and now he has widened that unpopularity in the wider world. Even the white supremacists have decided to join in.
If he is so ‘vital’ to Guernsey he could have a back office job, frankly the idea that he speaks in public on my behalf is nauseating. What a farce the States of Guernsey are.
When are the public going to discern some political accountability from these clowns?
Report abuse
Two gross misjudgements in less than a week.
The ‘man’ has no shame just like his apologists.
Pathetic, predictable, irresponsible and a smear on this island.
Report abuse
The joke was inoffensive, actually not very funny and certainly ill-timed.
Surely the groveling apology would be enough to satisfy the hordes baying for his blood.
Report abuse
re-flouquet racist joke, Barrack obama is the president of America, and don’t forget it! and he will be there for a long time. Get rid of Flouquet now before America gets rid of you. Guernsey you are warned!
Report abuse
Whether the joke itself was offensive or racist is clearly something that is subject to the individual’s own opinion, as we can clearly see from the reported references in the press to the fact that the incident has been picked up and championed by a website with which no reasonable, educated and intelligent person would EVER wish to be associated.
The problem here is not so much the joke but the fact that the joke was told at all, and the forum in which it was chosen to do so. One has to question whether someone this lacking in public awareness, not to mention good old common sense, should hold such a senior position of authority. And if it is indeed possible to continue in this position of authority without his dignity, integrity and respect from others intact….this will remain to be seen.
Report abuse
So he won’t step down! Convenient for him I’m sure. It remains to be seen what actions our other elected wish to make of this?
This is an important question that I and others will be asking themselves?
He has disgraced our shores and it will remain to be seen just what kind of ACCORD we will have with Obama when this is left unchecked and swept under the carpet. Just like all the other inconvenient little things that happen on a regular basis in our Channel Islands.
We are in effect allowing our leaders to shame us, drag us down and ultimately force us into a poverty that will be similar to WW2.
Shame on everybody that wishes to allow this petty man to get away with his despicable jokes.
It would be interesting for our so called CM to air his views on all of this but it would be a case of not wishing to discredit his mateychum?
As our leader he should be accountable of making comment and even raising the issue on whether the US President deserves a written apology from the culprit himself and the people of GY?
Maybe that would boost our accord?
Lets wait and see cos this is not the end of the matter as far as most are concerned.
Report abuse
NO, I do not accept this weak and pathetic excuse for an apology. YES, I have no confidence in you as our Deputy Chief Minister. You ARE a national embarrassment and will remain so until you resign or are forced to stand down.
As for Harry’s assertion that this disgraced politician enjoys majority support, which island are you living on? St Helena? The GP online vote consistently showed 70 per cent disapproval, so can we have that voteline back please? I am certain that hundreds more would welcome the opportunity to register their disgust following the deputy’s latest stunning display of sheer arrogance.
Finally, putting forward Max Clifford to argue the case for Bernard Flouqet really does take the biscuit. Mr Clifford is, after all, the paid publicist of Jade Goody of Big Brother, who was booted out of a house of a different sort for her own disgraceful racist behaviour.
Report abuse
“Pathetic, predictable, irresponsible and a smear on this island.” Get a grip people. Aren’t you ever so slightly overreacting?
There are some seriously disturbed contributors on this website. Really there are.
Report abuse
What I would like to know is who paid Mr Clifford? Us again I would suspect? How much was it? Can this fee be reclaimed by us from DCM’s personal pension fund?
It is now time that we all started to demand answers to our questions. We have lost democracy. We are getting a bit through the media but this is nowhere near enough. We are all paying through the nose for a select few to live it up whilst we are left feeling powerless.
It is now time we demanded people power to be returned cos if we don’t then things will and can only get worse for us all!
Report abuse
I’m sorry, but anyone who, in this day and age, makes a joke in front of a room packed full of reporters and television cameras that includes the word ‘golliwog’ is clearly:
A) Too stupid; and
B) Too out of touch with contemporary society
to represent an island like Guernsey. An island that is now under increasing scrutiny given the current financial climate and the recent American election. Anyone dealing with Floquet may find out about this comment. What do you think their opinion of him will then be? That’s right – a simpleton. A backwards simpleton from a small backwater where everyone eats seaweed and rocks. I say this as a proud Guernseyman by the way, born and bred. As other people have said, if he has his uses, let him be taken on as a consultant, but as the deputy head of the Government with outward-facing, diplomatic responsibilities? You MUST be joking. Think, for example, what would have happened had John Prescott made such a joke during his tenure as Deputy PM. That’s right, bedlam.
Report abuse
To Jackie
I am afraid your reponse goes a long way in reinforcing the veiw from outside of the Channel Islands that they are populated by insular, uneducated yokels.
Get with the progamme, a senior member of the Island government can not be allowed to make such a comment in public, end of story.
Report abuse
Flouquet is just confirming his lack of judgement by refusing to resign as Deputy Chief Minister, the shame of it is that there is no way anyone can force him to go, he will just carry on drawing his salary whilst clearly being unfit to perform on the international stage, he should have some pride and resign. If an ordinary citizen had made the same bad taste remarks in a public forum, we would probably have been charged with racism and arrested. The majority of us cannot even voice our disapproval at the ballot box next election….Island wide voting is a must for democracy in Guernsey. Get rid of him before he steps into George Bush’s shoes!
Report abuse
James
There are a lot of avenues open to all to seek a proper conclusion. You will find these in the rules and regulations that govern our elected.
It is now a case of whether these are going to be enforced by our elected who do disagree with his comments? Or is it going to be tested by a member of our public?
Report abuse
It is not for any one of us to tell people they are “overreacting”, slightly or otherwise, or indeed how they should be feeling. However, the damage and negative publicity to which our beautiful island’s reputation has already been subjected because of this incident is there for all to see whether this is due to public “overreaction” or genuine and valid concern at the inappropriate behaviour of a senior politician. This is a fact. That someone should feel the need to make comments about people “overreacting” in the face of this fact leads me to feel certain that they would not appreciate someone doing the same to them in respect of something they believed in or felt very strongly about. Another fact; people are very clearly upset about this. And if Bernard Flouquet cannot succeed in changing overwhelming public opinion on this point with what amounts to a forced and therefore meaningless apology, I think we can safely assume that someone accusing people of “overreacting” and being “seriously disturbed” will not either.
Report abuse
It is a pity that the Deputy Chief Minister doesn’t care for the reputation of his office as much as he cares about clinging to power.
Many people wondered how he had achieved such status anyway, bearing in mind his uneventful and uninspiring track record, and now, regardless of how he got here, we have the evidence that, as we always suspected, he isn’t really fit for the job as a representative of State or parish.
If he will not do the honourable thing and resign, and the public cannot “de-select ” him then who has the power to remove him and shouldn’t the media be asking of them “what next?”
Report abuse
This will not end here, how arrogant of Bernard Flouquet to think it will. As for our deputies they need to stand up and be counted and act swiftly and remove him ASAP. It has already reached university chat rooms in the USA and will spread quickly. The Guernsey electorate has spoken and wants him gone, if our deputies won’t how can we do it? Any petitions started?
Report abuse
Dear Mr. Trott
That club member of yours,(Flouquet) needs to go and fast!! with his background,arrogance,and notorious behaviour he shouldn`t be in the states anyway!least of all deputy PRIME MINISTER,do I detect a PRESCOT in the club Lyndon? if you don`t get rid of him you`ll be tarred with the same brush.
Report abuse
Deputy Chief Minister…. well I never.
For a ‘high standing’ local ‘leader’ to refer to the President elect of the United States of America in such a way is reprehensible. No apology is suitable. If you decide to open a PRESS Conference with a rascist joke then it really is time to ‘call a cab’ and ‘get your jacket’.
Surely no one is that stupid!?
Report abuse
To Will
I quite agree that it is a derogatory term.
But if he is genuinely contritely sorry that he’s put his foot in it perhaps he shouldn’t leave; the island businesses who are supporting him obviously think he brings something to the economy. It’s not a win win situation whatever happens. It hasn’t made national press so i imagine it will die down, although perhaps not in the channel islands for a while.
Report abuse
To Henry,
“Of course Max Clifford – who knows a thing or two – deemed the joke as not being racist.”
I know a thing or two too, and I deemed it to be racist.
To Suzi Gill,
“And why is it ok to call guerns donkeys and Jersey people crappos and jocks and the rest of it. If we’re going to have a rule then it should apply to all nationalities.”
This is a separate argument because it’s not based on the colour of someone’s skin.
I found the joke offensive and Deputy Flouquet’s arrogance in now obvious to everyone. He must still go.
Report abuse
The thing that gets me most about this situation is that i never expected a resignation from this man and i never got one. The blinding ignorance of his comments were so so far off the mark as to suggest a complete lack of sensitivity, intelligence, compassion and tolerance. To expect him to act in a manner that would show some dignity and true courage (ie resign) was too much to ask.
Such a shame a man like this is representing the island i love….
Report abuse
“Channel Islands that they are populated by insular, uneducated yokels.” You must be one of those racist English types that live here and sneer at the resident population. I’d never heard the word ‘guern’ before you lot turned up in the 70s.
Report abuse
Would you care to name these businesses who are ‘supporting’ him Suzi Gill nee Walker
Report abuse
When are the States going to develop a backbone and support the majority view that Flouquet has become an embarrasment to the Island and should go? I agree that his speech today shows the arrogance befitting of someone with the ability to make such remarks whilst in the public eye. There should be consequences for this obviously racist ‘joke.’ There would certainly be consequences within most workplaces on the Island, why does it need to be any different for Statesmen? The argument that its OK because he’s good for the GY economy is very poor indeed.
Report abuse
To Dep Flouquet – I hoped you would demonstrate some belated self-awareness, honour and statesmanship as would fit your role, but no. This second apology is hardly different to the first one. Sorry only to Guernsey, no acknowledgement at all of the deep racist roots of the joke or its targets, whether any person of Obama’s colour or race, or the man himself. Obama being a man who has just become a beacon of respect and hope for millions of ordinary people in a world desperate for such anchors. If you still think this was an ‘arguably’ racist joke, I challenge you to debate the matter one to one with its subject, Mr Obama, or any black person. Anyone! Or if you feel safer with a Guern, try Heather Watson or her mum! You could try it when you present Heather with a future sports or ambassadorial award! She is certainly a better ambassador than you can ever be in my eyes. You would not have tried the joke in front of any non-white skinned person because you knew so well it was wrong. You blamed it, like a child, on the big boys you were with the day before. And implied it would have been perfectly ok if the Press, who were there to record you, were not recording you! At best I think you were ignorant of the issues and did not reflect and judge for a moment at the level required, given your role as DCM, and at worst I do wonder if you are in fact, as Peter Roffey questioned, covertly racist, and therefore quite possibly covertly discriminating of all differences such as sexuality and disability? A lot more people are angry now. Many who thought you were wrong, but were not too fussed, assumed you would do the obviously decent thing and resign as CDM and leave it there. Now they are angry too. Others have not quite realised how the roots of the golliwog joke go back to the heart of white supremacist’s and other extremist groups’ hateful icons. Google Minister Flouquet Racist Joke and check out the Stormfront site postings. I ask anyone who can, to pursue and support the vote of no confidence in Dep Flouquet or urge him to stand down as our DCM. The respect for the States of Deliberation, by the majority of decent people, is evaporating fast.
Report abuse
To Suzi Gill nee Walker “It hasn’t made national press so i imagine it will die down”
Wrong – its been reported in both the Daily Mail and the Telegraph….this is a time bomb waiting to go off – next time there is a review of ‘tax havens’ this will be dug up and flung in our faces – and Guernsey will suffer while Flouquet keeps his job. Shame!
Report abuse
The joke was totaly unfunny and pathetic, but is racist. Not very racist, but it will still cause deep offence and it is not only the joke which is the point here. It is that Deputy Flouquet thought it fit to tell at a press conference despite a wiser head advising him not to.
If he didn’t take the advice not to tell the joke did anyone really expect him to resign as Deputy Chief Minister!. Noboby said will the real Bernard Flouquet please stand up, but he has without realising it. Now you know him the choice is yours at the next election.
Report abuse
Wonder why I am living in Canada?
Report abuse
He had the support of his piers – says it all really does’nt it.
Lads club, for the boys, all racist, sexist and narrow minded who are just taking all the taxpayers money and spending it on nice lunches.
What a total bunch of deadlegs.
I wouldn’t trust Bernard to hit water if he fell out of boat.
I wouldn’t trust Bernard to run a tap, let alone a Government.
Politicians are supposed to be upstanding pillars of the community, ELECTED by the majority to represent their views and beliefs in an impartial, professional and ethical way.
I don’t see the behaviours of Bernie of Trott’ski behaving like this at all.
Whoever voted in these bunch of lemons wants to forget politics and stick to reading the Sun.
My oh my what a world we live in.
Still, could be worse, you could be on holiday in Mumbai, were real people are having real issues – poor souls.
What on earth is the world coming to when someone with a bit of power denegrades an ethnic society and expects no one to lambast him.
For his colleagues to support him suggests to me that they advocate racism, because that it was his remark was.
And as for Max Clifford, he wouldn’t know an honest person if they fell on him. Anything for a bit of exposure eh Max? He always comes knocking.
Sure as eggs are eggs he will be paid for sorting out the terrible PR of poor old Trottski and Bernie, taxpayers expense of course.
Report abuse
Ah Jackie, there you go again with your open minded and balanced comments like “English types” and “you lot turned up in the 70′s”
I wonder why the Islands are seen as insular!!
Oh and by the way I am a third generation Guernsey born person but then going by your skewed veiw of life I probably still count as an outsider.
Report abuse
There are many reasons why Deputy Flouquet should step down from the position of Deputy Chief Minister, but unfortunately this racist “joke” is not one of them. The electorate will decide the fate of Deputy Flouquet in three years’ time and we can only hope that the good people of the Câtel will feel that someone with such an unpleasant “sense of humour” is no longer fit to represent them in the States of Deliberation.
Report abuse
Suzy Gill nee Walker, please take a look:-
Please take a look:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088357/British-politician-jokes-UK-golliwog-jam-jars-Obamas-elected.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3497858/Guernsey-deputy-chief-minister-in-Barack-Obama-golliwog-jibe.html
Perhaps we should be sufficiently sanguine to acknowledge that our parochial reactions are of little consequence except insofar as we are seen from beyond our shores to be taking the right action and quickly. Whether we like it or not we are dependant on business from abroad and are about to be scrutinised no doubt critically. This will not stop at whether we take the utmost care in ensuring our business is in a state of purity. That will be taken for granted. We are being looked at a time when the world is in crisis and therein offshore centres and their activities are being regarded with deep circumspection. We must abandon the claim to ‘Buddy Barack’ if it ever existed in favour of reality.
We could have done without the Flouqet interjection. Given that he is but a tiny figure in the larger landscape around us, he has nonetheless strayed into that scene. As such it will do us little good if we are seen as a community to continue with him in government. I am sure that as an individual he must know that his position is untenable and this must be the stance of the States. It is a puzzle to know what his indispensibility is that Mr Bisson seems to embrace but if he truly wishes to act in the interests of the Island at a crucial time, his resignation is essential. I can well understand his tenacity in holding especially given the indecent haste with which he rushed for CM despite the message he received at the polls. But if he wishes to recover some respect in politics he must know what he must do.
To those who say we have more important problems about us, I would respond that that is very true but there is nothing we can do effectively unless we pay attention to basic cleanliness. You do not prepare a meal for a soiled table.
It is well to bear in mind that the CIA define Guernsey as not part of the UK (whether geographically or politically I cannot say) but a Crown dependency where the British Government are responsible for its defence and international representation. It is the latter element that should be of some concern to us.
Report abuse
Well said Mr Wright. This man should go, of that there is no doubt, with us ever more in the spotlight, this is of utmost importantance! We cannot afford to have the reputation of Guernsey slurred anymore.
Also of concern should be this, if Mr Flouquet is stupid enough to damage our Islands reputation through thoughtless unnecessry remarks, what other damage is he doing that has yet to come to light?
Let there be no mistake, Mr Flouquet has displayed a distinct and blatant disregard for the Island and the people who elected him.
Report abuse
Does anyone think that Senator Obama would have taken any notice whatsoever of a mild and rather unfunny joke if the racist BBC and Guernsey Press had not blown it up out of all proportion to it’s significence?
The best comment so far is the letter in today’s Press from an Alderney resident.
Incidentally nothing much has come of the Italian P M’s comments about the level of the President-Elect’s tan; a good deal lighter than many European ladies aspire to! Why is Obama described as “Black” when he has a white parent? There is equal justification to regard him as white as there is to regard him as black.
Report abuse
Jackie – oh dear. You have let yourself down haven’t you?
Report abuse
“Does anyone think that Senator Obama would have taken any notice whatsoever………”
Agreed Brian. Guernsey Radio have been remarkably tabloid like in their pursuit of this issue as they were with the outfall problem. Sue Corringdon(sp?) practically created a tourism issue by herself.
As with this issue Gary Burgess has been anything but dispassionate and could, if there were a complaint lodged, be in some trouble with his employers.
When the GP has less news it prints less pages; when Radio Guernsey has little news it tends to drone on inanely.
There was a time when Radio Guernsey switched off at 2pm – time they reconsidered that.
Report abuse
Re: Brian and Jackies comments
“Does anyone think that Senator Obama would have taken any notice whatsoever of a mild and rather unfunny joke if the racist BBC and Guernsey Press had not blown it up out of all proportion to it’s significence?”
What do you mean? are you saying that Barrack Obama wouldnt have taken any notice of the comment if he hadnt heard about it? …huh?
You dont even make sense, you are grasping at straws……didnt you know that we are part of a global community now? Its not the 1800s whether you like it or not. The man made a completely unprofessional extremely racist comment to a group of journalists – what exactly did you expect would happen? Oh yes, thats right, the mood would be “lightened” and everyone would laugh in hysterics about “Golliwog” Barrack on the Jam Jars… -how deluded? The man should be seriously committed…. and you are pointing your finger at the press! I think you are missing the point. The press didnt make the statement – Flouquet did.
Report abuse
Jackie perhaps Senator Obama hasn’t taken any notice but it’s quite obvious many other people have. As the old saying goes this issue has gotten beyond a (the) joke and it is now an issue of Deputy Flouque’s judgement and his respect for people of colour. No modern politician in their right mind would have made such a joke, Deputy Flouquet’s problem is that he appears to be in his.
Report abuse
re: WIL…..“Golliwog” Barrack on the Jam Jars….i suggest you ask somebody for the joke…that is not what it says….the joke would be the same for any president / president elect, past or present….just happens that Barack Hussein Obama II is of mixed race ..In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family. “Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it’s like a little mini-United Nations,” he said. “I’ve got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I’ve got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher.” Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father’s family, six of them living, and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama’s mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham until her death on November 2, 2008, just before the presidential election. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother’s family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, president of the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War. (wikipedia)…i think this more than shows that he has more than the usual understanding about racial harmony
Report abuse
leigh haines
You do not understand. We have no room left to wiggle around in ignorance. We belong to the 21st century finance industry. Whatever personal views on tax and business machinations, there can be no mistakes – gobbing off about golliwogs is not acceptable.
Get over it and clean your mess.
Report abuse
Leigh Haines,
Oh, please! You are deluded if you think Deputy Flouquet would have told the joke if John McCain had won the presidential election. You just sound like an apologist for racism.
Report abuse
It is taking an awfully long time for the goverment of Guernsey to suspend its deputy chief minister for his inapropriate comments.
Report abuse
I didnt say it – Flouquart did.
Oh and yes, i know who Barrack Obama is, along with most of the world, but thankyou for the revision.
Report abuse
This subject is getting boring now..
Why don’t we have some acknowledgement of the things that got rail roaded through the states while most poeple were bleeting about this smoke screen.
How many people actualy know what the press conferences that BF told the joke at was really about ?.
Report abuse
Me
I agree. He should resign from external relations immediately and draw a line under this mess. He should have done that at the first instance. His arrogance is compounding this issue. If he is needed by the States to do a job then he should be kept on a leash and out of the public eye.
Report abuse
It will be interesting to see if any private sector employees/employers , disciplined for racial discrimination, might now have an appeal path to follow….if it’s good enough for senior politicians to shrug their shoulders and offer an apology then why not everyone else? And, come to think of it…why not challenge all the sexism cases as well..surely the same principle applies that it’s OK to act and speak as you want, as long as you say sorry afterwards?
I wonder how many of those posting here in support of the mantra “get a life and move in, it’s only a little bit of racism” might have felt differently if the subject matter been about dentally challenged, tightfisted, stumpy inbreds, who collaborate with fascists and have a dubious track record in gender equality and human rights?
It’s not funny is it when someone exposes you to an exaggerated stereotype in order to demean you?
Anyhow, got to dash, I need to get a few hours kip in my converted greenhouse before my next 14 hour shift packing Pansies!
Report abuse
Whilst it is doubtful that Deputy Flouquet is a racist, what this episode does show is that he has an incredible lack of appreciation of the social and political environment he is living in. To not realise that any joke with even a slight racial connotation would be jumped on shows unbelievable naivete at a level that one does not expect from a senior politician. In fact I would suggest that alone is sufficient to consider him unfit for a senior role in island government at this time.
Report abuse
Sir if you resign due to the small mindedness of this Island, you are a bigger fool than they will ever be, this has been blown out of all proportion, what will to-morrows news be. Oh let me think, someone has killed a budgie!!!!!!!!!
Report abuse
Caroline,
The island is small minded but the minister is not….how on earth have you arrived at that conclusion?
Judging by the massive amount of postings here the island’s population appears to be pretty broadminded and despite the overwhelming lack of support for the DCM the posts have been of varying opinions.
The common thread through most post though do clearly assert that there is no place in Guernsey for any form of discrimination be it based on race, religion, sex or age.
This isn’t just about a tasteless racist joke, this is also about the mans character as a senior politician and his ambition that would see him as head of the island.
This debacle has revealed the real man beneath the politicians veneer and the population has every right to challenge this.
There is an old saying…”Democracy will always get the politicians it deserves” so, if we tolerate this, turn a blind eye, sweep it under the carpet etc we are at the very least tolerating racism from our government representatives or, at worst, condoning it.
If we allow our government to become a haven for these types of attitudes then what next?
Report abuse
Yes carts, it would seem that the DCM and CM (and others), with their asserted ‘overwhelming public support’ wish to condone ignorance, support belligerent sociopathy and advertise their credentials as big-hitting bruisers, whilst the reality is an ashamed embarrassment that this political system could have thrown up uneducated chancers to be the spokespeople for Guernsey.
Typically, the use of ‘small-minded’ when it comes to highlighting the fact that golliwogs were intended to keep the white population ‘small-minded’.
Report abuse
Lyndon Trott responded directly to my complaint about Deputy Flouquet last evening, informing me that Flouquet has the ‘OVERWHELMING SUPPORT’ of the people of Guernsey, the vast majority of whom do not wish him to resign!!!!!!!
What planet is Trott on? Clearly it is not this one. I am going to print out this ENTIRE website’s postings on the subject and send them to him this evening and I suggest that all you sensible readers who wish to see Flouquet out of office do the same.
Report abuse
Caroline
For your information, racism is ‘narrow-minded’ (like you). Condemning it (as a number of us are) is not.
Report abuse
Apolgies are not enough Mr Flouquet do the only honourable thing left and that simply is to resign as Dep Chief Minister.
In any other company You would have been suspended, howeveer it is not the publics fault that our goverment is incapable of making any descions.
Report abuse
Wh the heck ever heard of Jean Pierre? Who cares what he/she knows?
Report abuse
Henry
Who the heck cares what you think? err… no-one.
Report abuse
Pete
“No modern politician in their right mind would have made such a joke, Deputy Flouquet’s problem is that he appears to be in his.” Apart from Silvio Berlusconni and the odd Austrian, a chap called Sikorski from Poland.
Facts my boy before sensation.
Report abuse
Jackie
Do some research yourself on Berlusconi. He is leader of a right wing coalition that openly courts the Italian fascist parties (don’t mention his endemic corruption). You might want to have a look at Poland’s recent far right movements in politics also. Racism in Poland and Italy is de rigeur so by putting Flouquet under this umbrella it makes the situation even worse.
Is this what we want, for our DCM to mentioned in the same breath as unscrupulous politicians and terrorist organisations?
It’s not as simple as saying ‘it’s just a joke’, you have now proved it.
The apologists are quick to jump on parallels but it does them no favours. I can guarantee that more people have had the word wog used at them in insult than people have heard ‘jokes’.
Just look at the way the white supremacist site Stormfront uses it. The same “storm in a teacup” comments, tagged with pictures of a black lady superimposed on a golliwog. Is it really that clever to be associated with this mentality.
That is why he must leave the DCM post. While we’re at it, how much further along are we to having sewage and waste disposal solutions? He fixed a pipe. Brilliant.
Report abuse