‘Four ministers want to see Flouquet go’
Monday 1st December 2008, 1:00PM GMT.
FOUR members of the Policy Council want Bernard Flouquet replaced as deputy chief minister, according to Deputy Leon Gallienne.
But there was still no word from Deputy Flouquet this morning. He had been given until yesterday to respond to a 16-signature letter calling on him to consider his position in his outward-facing roles.
‘I am still waiting. Whether he is going to do it in writing or verbally I am not sure,’ said Deputy Gallienne, ‘but I will be meeting some of my other signatories today so it will be an opportunity to discuss the situation.’
Deputy Gallienne said that at least 24 members, a majority of the Assembly, had indicated they would support a vote of no confidence if the matter were to go that far.
‘We are trying to do this in the most honourable way,’ said Deputy Gallienne.
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Hasn’t he resigned yet?
I wonder if he is enjoying his “overwhelming public and States support”, as Lyndon Trott asserts?
Laughable that his supporters compare him to Julius Caeser. That’s right, the minister for sewage is a Roman emperor. What drivel.
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He is pretty much on his way then? Good. What is a complete vote f no confidence issue is the fact that the CM himself has failed to do anything at all about this disgrace.
Completely the opposite actually in trying to defend his DCM. The CM needs to be boosted out next for lacking any real direction!
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I absolutely can’t BELIEVE he hasn’t resigned yet. I fully expected him to have gone by lunch time today. What part of ‘your colleagues and your public despise you’ doesn’t he understand?
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… and for Lyndon Trott to say Flouquet has ‘overwhelming support’ is piffle. The guy is deluded. He will come to regret ignoring the population over this scandal.
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And I totally agree with Paul. LT is as bad as BF. I have personally expressed my opinion to LT and received a blatant denial from him that any of this is a problem and that the whole island supports Flouquet and accepts his ‘apology’ as sufficient!! What a laugh – does he think we came down the last shower? Bunch of old-boys sticking together that’s all these politicians are. They should have no place in our government and leave the running of the island to people who actually CARE what the people think.
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Get a sense of proportion! This whole thing is a storm in a teacup. BF was a ‘bf’ to make his ‘joke’ but heavens he doesnt deserve hanging for it.
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No, he doesn’t deserve hanging, just a simple resignation from any externally facing posts.
He can’t be trusted not to sully Guernsey’s reputation with his inanities.
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What rubbish!
If Guernsey wishes to continue proceeding under the protection of the United Kingdom, and to claim to be a modern civilised state, it needs to face up to reality and get rid of people like this.
He must resign.
And claims that this is being blown out of proportion are laughable. Politicians must be aware of their own actions. Repeating something someone else told you without questioning it is no explanation or excuse.
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Deputy Flouquet is not real politician just another retired businessman playing at politcs.
A politician worthy of the name would have resigned as soon as they saw the public reaction making a quick clean break hoping that people would quickly forget instead of a long drawn out messy saga which everyone would remember for along time.
But when one is used to saying and doing what one likes alls ones life it’s very hard to accept the fact that you are answerable to someone else but yourself. Don’t hold your breath on his resignation.
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I repeat part of a comment posted by “carts” on another posting.
“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.”
To all those trying to defend Flouquet, that is why he should go.
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i see people are still posting personal comments, and yet wont use their real names. if you want to make a statement you should have the gonads to let people know who you are. (aims to create a valuable forum for the expression of views by all who have an interest in Guernsey. Contributors are expected to respect the opinions of others)
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I am not a Deputy Flouquet fan, since the installation of those St Andrews road humps which have restricted my freedom of movement, as they have prevented me from driving my car down St Andrews road for the past three years.
In comparison the racist claims or comments, are a minor storm in a sticky jam jar.
Apparently everyone has forgotten that a Deputy is elected for a term of office by the people, in a process called an election.
An unpopular comment or action by the elected individual post election does not instantly undo the election process, even if our opinion of the elected individual changes instantly.
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‘Four ministers want to see Flouquet go?’
How about the majority of the electorate wishes for it!
Don’t we count any longer cos we wish for change then?
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From a quiet backwater in Southern England comes this report published in the Times today:
“BNP attacked over doll offer”
The British National Party has been criticised for offering golliwog dolls and fridge magnets for sale at a planned Christmas event. The far right party in Hastings sent out flyers saying the dolls were “ a perfect Christmas gift” Michael Foster, the Labour MP for Hastings described the offer as outrageous. Nick Prince the leader of the BNP in Hastings said “Golliwogs are traditional toys which pre-date teddy bears”
So there we are. To the BNP excuse I say -Really, so the BNP have become apologists just like ours for the promulgation of this effigy.
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Yes, Tom Wright. I wonder why the BNP would want to do such a thing? I can’t quite put my finger on it…something to do with what they stand for…oh, it’s gone.
There I was starting to believe people. duh.
The ignorance of some of the apologists is beyond belief. The BNP use deliberate divide and rule strategies to force these issues out, safe in the knowledge that some folk will go “oh yeah, it predates the teddy bear” and start perpetuating these symbols as ‘normality’. There are plenty of black dolls available, the need for this particular type is completely unnecessary and serves only to stir up hatred. It’s not just me that’s saying it.
Grow up Guernsey.
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“How about the majority of the electorate wishes for it!”
Um, evidence based facts please. You can’t prove the majority of the electorate want him to go.
Much like the over egging of the ‘international reputation’ number; the abuse of power by the RCN rep here – did she ballot her members? um…..nope.
So let’s be honest people, those who want BF to go don’t really have any other evidence of a ground swell of support. None. 16 sinatories, two letter to the Code of Conduct Committee an a number of anonymous randoms on and internet blog.
Not very convincing at all.
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It is not difficult to gauge from which direction Jackie appears. So to educate us further, perhaps she will enlighten us as to the evidence the CM has that supports his public statement that the majority of our people and the States are happy for the DCM to stay. I know of no one, but no one, who has that view. That is fine for me. Is it not true that in his own words to his peers in the States the DCM in describing the quality of his action painted, without let, a true picture of a person totally unsuited to be in the Chamber let alone anything else. It is indeed worrying and perhaps indicative of a deeper malaise to note the tone pervading through most of the responses that scoff at those who object to the incident.
Fast Robert,
Is it not a fact that years ago the doll along with Enid Blyton’s tales and others, retained a place of affection among the young and not so young. As time went on, nations became internationalised, colonies were decolonised and took their seats on international forums. The civilised world inevitably became sensitive to original less afectionate meanings and to avoid offense to races, moral sanctions were applied against further usage. So its concept changed in a way that other words we use have been debased so we have to be very careful about double entendre par example. Of course it is true that there is a number in the community who in private when in light conversation and some in heavier, utter all kinds of abusive comments in the hope that his/her listeners will agree. But it is a totally different matter when one is charged with representing a community wanting to appear in tune with the rest of the world both politically and commercially. That seems to me to be the crux of the issue. Do we really think it clever, politic or even characteristic of our community to target in public the one man who is to shortly take over the mantle of the most powerful democratically elected leader in the world?
We all tend to slip into claiming that everyone agrees with how we feel ourselves and of course this is not always the case. It does make one feel better, however. The fact that a large part of the taxes we pay are targeted or should be to support social needs is a measure of concern a community has for each other’s wellbeing and as a consequence, respect. So it is not a far step to make the assumption that most taxpayers would agree that any act among us that debases that concept should be removed.
Finally may I say that even in our low level political scene, there is nothing more damaging than digging in in an untenable post.
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Dear TW
“……as to the evidence the CM has that supports his public statement that the majority of our people and the States are happy for the DCM to stay. I know of no one, but no one, who has that view.”
Only based on what I have read an heard as you have.
- 16 signatories to a letter is not a majority of the House; 47 in the Hosue isn’t there?
– Two letters to the Code of Conduct Committe in an island of 60k is not, in my opinion, demonstrable of the rage of the population.
Those are the figures I have, where are yours? Anecdotes don’t count.
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Jackie,
You’re still here defernding the indefensible i see.
Hope that you have been back onto the other thread to apologise for your vile, personal insults to another contributor?
The amount of complaints to the code of conduct commitee are an irrelevance, whether BF has contravened the code is the point and if you would care to acquaint yourself with them instead of your risible support for someone not fit for office, you would find that BF ‘should’ rightly be a gonner.
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But Jackie, Just as in these blogs only relatively few people express their opinion in public even though they feel strongly. Because 16 deputies signed a letter that does not indicate the true number in our house of representatives who feel strongly about this issue. For some reason they have a fear of expressing themselves in public which is disappointing. For example and very surprisingly Deputy Matt Fallaise copied to us a long email despite which he would not tell us his opinion. Very strange. No doubt a vote of confidence will disseminate opinions so that bloggers can have a ball!!. In the meantime mine is a mix of my own opinion of the incident and that of people people I know, many of whom are reluctant to voice their opinion in public; in particular these blogs where to express an opinion can very often lead to abuse.
Now please if you would, would you point me to the anecdotes that you feel detract from the opinions I have expressed.
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