THE Treasury and Resources minister’s bombshell came immediately after the rejection of the department’s proposal to borrow £175m.

Whether his decision to quit politics was a direct response to that vote isn’t clear.

If so, then it was a tad petulant, but politicians have the right to react like any other human being, including saying ‘blow this for a game of soldiers’.

Alternatively, if he’d always intended to step down in 2012, then the timing of the announcement was rather ill-judged, but the decision itself is quite understandable.

Eight years is a sizable commitment to local politics and we shouldn’t expect those entering the States to commit forever.

Stepping down after doing your ‘tour of duty’ is nothing new.

While some deputies, like Roger Berry, John Langlois and Dan Le Cheminant, spent a working lifetime in the House, many equally high profile politicians, such as Roger Perrot, Jeff Kitts and Peter Ferbrache, served for less than a decade.

The reasons why a deputy wants to ‘get their life back’ after two or three terms vary.

Some simply feel they’ll have achieved most of what they can achieve by then.

Those with another job in the ‘real world’ can feel after a while that they are being spread too thin.

Others find the lack of any real private life becomes tiresome after a few years.

Then of course deputies are not always popular and some folk like to be liked.  It is strange but true that islanders who are popular in other walks of life, and constantly receive suggestions that they ‘should stand for the States’, will rapidly find that universal acclaim disappearing once elected.

The more responsibility they are given, the quicker their popularity will erode. Even if they have broad shoulders, that sort of change in public perception can be a shock and it often affects families more than the deputy themselves.

Whatever the reasons, there will always be a regular turnover in States members, and within limits that doesn’t matter.

Certainly Guernsey’s parliament benefits from a degree of continuity and experience, but on the other hand new blood is healthy too.

The trick is getting the balance right and the electorate is usually pretty canny at doing that.

The only problem is if too many sitting deputies choose to step down at any one time.

In those circumstances electors become rightfully fearful of a totally inexperienced States, so underperforming deputies who really should be voted out may slide down the poll but still scrape in.

The key factor for any States to work well is not the quantity of new members but their quality.

Some arrive in the chamber well prepared, understanding how it works and their role.

Others seem to have regarded getting elected as an end in itself.

One newly elected deputy five years ago [now a minister] even had to ask where the States met, and if I hear one more ‘newbie’ express surprise at the workload or the amount of reading, I will scream.

What about businessmen – do they make good deputies?

Some do, some don’t.

Certainly anybody used to managing a business will find the need to build consensus frustrating.

If they are used to saying ‘do this’ and it being done, then it’s a real culture shock to find colleagues saying ‘we don’t agree’.

Some adjust to those frustrations, others don’t.

We need able people from all backgrounds to come into the States, they all bring different qualities, but I certainly never found that ‘businessmen’ were inherently better politicians than others.

Neither is being ‘super clever’ an indicator of how much a deputy will achieve.

With the complexities of modern life, politicians need a reasonable level of intelligence to comprehend the issues under consideration.

However, once above that threshold – and I offer no opinion on what percentage of States members are – then a high IQ is different to the ability to deliver politically.

Deputy Parkinson is perhaps a case in point.

One of the brightest intellects to enter the House in recent years, but his achievements so far don’t fully reflect that.

This may change as his term as Treasury minister continues.

Certainly, he’ll want to leave his mark, having announced so early the time of his departure.