Deputy chief’s future in the balance
Wednesday 28th January 2009, 2:29PM GMT.
DEPUTY Bernard Flouquet’s future as deputy chief minister remains in the balance this lunchtime.
The States has broken for lunch having heard extensive arguments both for and against a motion of no confidence in him.
Earlier this morning the States unanimously voted to reprimand him for a racist joke he told at a press conference in November.
An emotional and contrite Deputy Flouquet has again apologised for his actions.
Around eight members remain to speak in the no confidence debate with looks like it will lead to a tight vote.
Of those that have so far, 10 want to see him resign as deputy chief minister and eight have supported him.
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My god. I can’t believe this witch-hunt is still on going!!!
Is this what all my taxes are paying for? How much of my money has gone into the time wasted by other deputies etc and into their pockets?
This is a clear example of why politics never gets anywhere…………..
Listen up, do what your paid to do and concentrate on the real issues in life…….not wasting time and money.
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‘Witch Hunt’, it is not, which is why the States
unanimously voted to reprimand him for a racist joke he told at a press conference.
Simple, in voting for this reprimand, all members accepted that he told a racist joke.
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gsydonkee
If it were a ‘witch-hunt’ we would have had our man by now, ducked into submission and staked above burning faggots of righteous justice.
No, this is a response to a public showing of dismay that a senior politician could be so fallible.
It is Flouquet that has wasted all our time and money by not resigning immediately. No amount of apologists claiming ‘humour’ or ‘efficiency’ can alter the fact that Flouquet reckons that President Obama is comparable with a golliwog, a well documented icon of white-supremacist paraphenalia.
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Why did Barry B want a recorded vote on the Code of Conduct Reprimand, just to drag it out, just to rub salt in Bernard’s bleeding wound? It’s 15.28 now, I have no idea of the outcome, but will never be convinced that, if not a ‘witch hunt’ there has been some score settling going on.
With him gone the back stabbing won’t end, with him there the back stabbing won’t end.
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He has got through on a highly divided vote after wasting most of the day. Is there anywhere this man won’t stoop down to, to further his own pathetic and pointless political career? I’m still waiting for some sort of positive list of his achievements. alf the deputies, therefore, think that it is OK to be casually racist in front of the media.
I’m not proud that he will continue to speak on my behalf in public.
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Jackie
What wounds? This is a guy who has sullied the political process because of a vastly misplaced vanity and assuredness of his own capabilities.
I hope the Press publishes who voted and how.
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So the States unanimously agreed that Flouquet should be reprimanded because they agreed that he was racist…..and then vote to retain him as Chief Minister??? Disgusted. I sincerely hope that the Press publish full details of how the deputies voted. Shame on all those who voted to keep this arrogant man in such a high-profile role.
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Well Fast Robert – you were wrong.
States members, who are best to know and reflect the public opinion have done just that and have voted to support him. They have indicated that Deputy Flouquet is capable of representing Guernsey whenever necessary.
I have witnessed many islanders approach him during the last 11 weeks, wherever he went, and be pleased to shake his hand and encourage him to stay in post. It is to his credit that he did so despite the avalanche of vitriolic rubbish from the likes of you.
Now is the time for you to apologise?
As for Belinda – its Deputy Chief Minister we are talking about dear! Get a grip.
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Apologies, henry for the typo – as I am sure you will appreciate I was fairly horrified by the outcome.
What would you like me to get a grip of? The shoulders of all those deputies who voted in favour of unadulterated institutional racism and give them a jolly good shake, perhaps.
Still disgusted!
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So Henry, you take this as a victory for Flouquet do you?
He has single handedly divided the States along what is right and acceptable and what is untrustworthy. This is the worst possible outcome.
The reason you haven’t seen people go up to him and spit on his shoes for crass stupidity and for lowering the tone is that people who hold those views tend to be educated and polite.
Apologise for what? For having the likes of Jones stand up in public and attack those who want a better future debated by honourable and thoughtful Deputies, and even attack those who are no longer members?
If you think that knowing the island is represented by a bunch of casual racists that would prefer to defend an associate than do the right thing, then fine, but it shows you up for what you are. Passed it.
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Unbelievable!! We now have a completly divided house, those who think it is OK to be racist in the 21st century and those who continue to strive for a better Guernsey. There is no question that there is more to this as the old boy network is alive and well. Those who voted to keep him have shown there true colours and show that there election promises were as hollow as they have shown themselves to be. In a reversal of one great politicians speech it appears that some of our ‘politicians’ ask not what they can do for Guernsey but what can Guernsey do for them. They can continue to hold their hands out but they do not represent me.
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If, as Henry says, the vote reflects public opinion in the island, then we must conclude that the majority of the island is racist too in my view. It confirms that we are still years behind everywhere else apart from other small small-minded islands perhaps.
What is our Deputy Chief Minister’s private thoughts on one of Guernsey’s best ambassadors, Heather Watson, I wonder?
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Twenty one deputies supported the vote of no confidence and twenty four against including the chief minister. So we now know that if the CM had had the power, he would have done nothing, so it was an opportunist remark he made at the time.
I guess there are going to be a lot of islanders who will be embarrassed to say they are from Guernsey.
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Paul
Nobody in the States thinks it is OK to be racist as the 100% vote for the Formal Reprimand demonstrates.
Additionally, many of those supporting the Vote of No Confidence stated that they knew that DF was not a racist.
You obviously have not understood what the debate was about – it was about confidence. Then it came down to knowledge. Those against BF were not aware of his excellent and long experience of International and Commonwealth affairs.
No doubt that was why he could not understand how he came to tell such a “stupid story” (his words) and only realised the racist connotations afterwards.
Worse things have happened in the States and time has been the healer. So it will be here.
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This has been 100% a witch hunt and am glad its over, fast robert needs to get over it and maybe put himself up for election and see how far he gets ,not that far if he’s relying on PC brigade votes and beside the fact that in his own book president obama says that every body has the right to free speech and does not much care for PC so i don’t think he will be hurting too much, maybe some people can jump off the band wagon and get a life.
Have been watching these comment pages for a while and wonder why you lot bother, the same names over & over,you all know which side of the fence most of you sit on on most issues even after a few weeks i think i could be almost 90% on guessing where most of you stand on most issues past and present.
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I can’t believe how arrogant some people are, how they can’t see anything wrong with the remark that bloke made. Its about time our so called ‘Politians’ finally wake up and realise we’re living in the 21st century and lot has changed since life in the 50’s.
Perhaps if Deputy Flouquet was punished in some way, or sacked in my opinion then perhaps I would have some respect for the States Members of Guernsey. But after supporting him like they did, it just shows they’re as ignorant as each other.
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The joke here is that he has travelled the world “for the past 20 years” with 11 as part of the Coomonwealth Parliamentary Association AND COULD STILL NOT SEE the offence in his preprepared statement to the assembled media. So, Henry, with that wealth of experience he still manages to make a serious gaffe, even though he had vetted it through associates and manages to whine on about ‘momentary lapses of reason’, you think that gives you the gall to say that people don’t have ‘knowledge’? Yours and his pomposity amazes me.
As for the rest of the apologists: free speech? Who mentioned free speech? Ignorance.
And Dave Jones needs to look in the mirror before claiming others are wrong to take whatever stance they take.
I was once sitting near a senior member of the Council, and heard exclaiming about the ‘Pork and Cheeses’. I had hoped after some years that they would understand that being in politics involves a certain amount of public decorum. how jolly wrong I have proved to be.
According to the apologists it is OK, if not HEALTHY, to make racism into a joke, to repeat often to whoever is listening and then accept to stay in office even though they know they are “stupid” and carrying a “huge blemish”.
You ought to be ashamed, Flouquet, that you think you are good enough to represent Guernsey. Now everytime you open your mouth you will have no integrity, at least half the States won’t have much ‘confidence’ in you, and the public will either be laughing with you because they are stupid, or cringing.
Good job all round, States of Guernsey.
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It was alleged that a close friend of Deputy Flouquet had warned him the joke was inappropriate, before he went on to tell it at the media briefing. That person was unable to
neither confirm nor deny the reports.
I would guess that if that person had wanted to dispel any truth in the report he would have denied it, so I would assume it was true. Which means that Deputy Flouquet’s claim he was unaware of any rasist undertones is questionable and the answer to the question he asked himself one hundred relatively easy to come by.
Deputy Jones led those listening to believe telling inappropriate jokes was common place amongst members, which probably explains why it was reported that Deputy Floquet further compounded his error by saying he enjoyed jokes like that.
Perhaps many of those supporting him, are in fact those that enjoy jokes like that!!
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A year ago all this would have gone largely un-noticed by the rest of the world; but since the Landsbanki collapse at least 2000 of us are watching the island rather closely. We now know that you have an ineffective financial watchdog, a chief minister who keeps his deputies in the dark, and is good at organising whitewash investigations.
Some of you islanders really believe you don’t receive tax from savers’ deposits, or that it is fair enough that Guernsey is the only place not to have made an honest and honourable effort to offer the hand of financial support to the victims of a bank that supposedly collapsed whilst under its control. You should not be suprised at the above complaints, nor amazed as the bad publicity increases and the message that GUERNSEY has not the safest pair of hands to look after your money spreads.
P.S This paper is read all over the world now.
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