Pro-Suez deputy’s ‘I quit’ U-turn

Saturday 24th April 2010, 2:29PM BST.

Tony SpruceTHE deputy who said he would resign from Public Services over the scrapping of the Suez incinerator has done a U-turn.

Tony Spruce (pictured) announced yesterday that he would not be standing down from the department, although he would be giving up his place on the Waste Authority.

He defended his decision not to quit, saying he had stood originally partly to work on getting the sewage plant project completed.

‘If I stood down, I could not have an influence on the direction of these projects,’ he said.

‘I thought at the time [that quitting] might be best, but when you get approaches from people saying, “Please don’t stand down,” it made me look at it again.’

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  1. 1
    GG

    Let’s hope nobody votes for this U-turner again!

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  2. 2
    Scarlett

    I thought at the time [that quitting] might be best, but when you get approaches from people saying, “Please don’t stand down,” it made me look at it again.’

    …err, if that’s the same ‘people’ who called into Radio Guernsey in favor of his requete, that should read, ‘my wife’ not ‘people’.

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  3. 3
    nobby

    Just do the honourable thing and quit like you said you would. Just makes all your criticism of other ministers who changed their minds empty words.

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  4. 4
    Ray

    Oh dear.Spruce has made a U-Turn. He will now stay on PSD but will distance himself from waste issues

    Won’t that weaken the committee when tough decisions on waste brought to them by the waste sub committee have to be discussed?

    Will he absent himself in view of his ‘not wanting to be associated with any future failure of the zero waste proposals’

    Do we really want such a negative member on that committee? Do we even want such a negative member in the States?

    Is ” I don’t care,I haven’t got to resign ” the attitude the Vale voters were hoping for?

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  5. 5
    Rob Whittle, NAIL2

    The man is a political animal; not an honorable deputy. He should quit! He should resign!. No excuses for his poor, pro Suez burner decision

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  6. 6
    Guern abroad

    ‘If I stood down, I could not have an influence on the direction of these projects,’

    I didn’t like your influence on the Suez project, and I sure as hell can not imagine liking anything else you might try to influence.

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  7. 7
    Malcolm Barnes

    Tony Spruce has not let himself down & he’s the first one to have admitted that. Tony should stick to the thing he does very well indeed, pigeon racing. Give up your place on the Waste Authority Tony and come back to the Venture where we’ll reinstall your membership immediately. The meat draw hasn’t been the same without you – Wendy wants you pennies. See you soon my good friend, Malcolm B.

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  8. 8
    Heggarty

    …………”when you get approaches from people”..looks like his wife is supporting him yet again…….

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  9. 9
    Chris

    Oh dear isn’t this another example of States indecisiveness, albeit on an individual scale?

    What’s that saying? “in the name of God go now !”

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  10. 10
    Steve-O

    Yes Tony, but when your wife says “dont stand down” it doesnt count

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  11. 11
    Humbug

    Well Mr Spruce whilst I didn’t really have much of an opinion on Suez and felt that you were as entitled to try to change a States decision as the anti-Suez brigade you really should now show yourself to be a man of honour and keep to your word – stand down as you said you would.

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  12. 12
    Tom/Jerry

    If he doesn’t resign then one can assume the rest of aladdin’s cave will continue doing as they wish-
    b— r the people being the motto-

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  13. 13
    Gary Blanchford

    Having made the statement publicly on Radio Guernsey that he was resigning, that should have been the end of the matter. There is no way Deputy Spruce can stay on Public services as we will have no faith in his stance on moving waste forwards. We need people committed to that end and without any doubt he must go even if it takes a vote of no confidence to move him off the Committee.

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  14. 14
    Arnald

    Wasn’t Mr Spruce one of those saying that that the firefighters were holding a ‘ransom’ over Guernsey? Please insult me if I’m wrong, or insult me anyway…

    Maindonald was.

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  15. 15
    simon

    Oh dear Mr Spruce
    I respected your possition, until now!
    It would seem you wont be in politics very much longer, goodbye!

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  16. 16
    Neil Inder

    Tony Spruce could be positioning himself with his ‘I told you so T-shirt’. All quiet from those against the PSD proposal.

    Could be a smart move if the waste minimisers don’t have their ducks lined up.

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  17. 17
    Lynnie

    Yes that fills me with confidence.

    A deputy who throws a tantrum and all his toys out the pram when he doesn’t get his own way but they doesn’t actually have the balls to follow through. Great.

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  18. 18
    simon

    I guess we get the deputies we deserve, after all we voted them in! Only actually we didnt. Island wide elections please IF YOUR LISTENING.

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  19. 19
    Tom/ Jerry

    Simon;
    We are all for Island wide voting, with naturally Island wide choice of a deputy, tin star and all—

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  20. 20
    pyer

    I really do think, for the sake of clarity, that Mr Spruce should have a re-think (but not a States debate) and then it will become clear that he should resign as promised
    That will then clarify the situation for the final time, hopefully!

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  21. 21
    Peter

    Now there`s a surprise.
    Deputy Flouquet has declared his backing for Deputy Spruce. Could these be the founder members of the U-Turn Club?
    I doubt if it will be long before there are more joining as it seems to us that it`s getting to be a pre-requisite to being a Committee President.
    They nail their flags to the post and when they are in doubt of winning try to blackmail the electorate with a threat of resignation. They are so full of their own self importance they think this will swing the vote in their favour, how big headed can they be?
    Once they have lost the vote they withdraw the resignation and hope people won`t notice, How vain are they?
    I hope the States vote them off the committees they are on and that the people of Guernsey remember their vanity at the next election.
    I, for one, will do my best to remind everyone at the hustings.
    Get out Flouquet and get out Spruce you aren`t needed even though you seem to think you are irreplaceable. GO

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  22. 23
    Tom/jerry

    Simon;
    Sorry, but I must dis-agree with you- in a nice way I must add,

    Panto makes me laugh. These States make me weep for our Island;
    How much longer must we the Islanders suffer these arrows of pure destruction by A Body of useless ‘Know all’
    with the mentality of a 3rd world gone mad.

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  23. 24
    emz

    Can I vote for my dog? He’s smart and dynamic and less embarassing when he changes direction randomly.

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  24. 25
    simon

    emz
    I’ll vote for your dog if you vote for mine ;-)

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  25. 26
    CheesedOff

    I’ll vote for Emz’s dog. Simon, I’ll vote for yours too as she/he must be able to do a better job than the deputies we have at the moment.

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  26. 27
    simon

    Hey CheesedOff thanks :-) I must warn you tho she is a female tricoloured monkey that I bought over from the UK. So as long as your not sexist, xenophobic or racist all will be good.
    She believes in tackling the immigration issues and Island wide elections. She also believes that if a company or individual is based here they should pay a fair and proportionate amount of tax. She also believes that if a postman comes to her house to deliver the post he is fair game!

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  27. 28
    Steve Le Cheminant

    I think you guys might have hit on something here.
    In the regs for being eligible to stand for election, does it actually state that the candidate has to be human?
    Can you imagine the look on Lyndons face when he loses to a dalmation.

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  28. 29
    kevin

    @ emz,simon,CheesedOff
    Is it really necessary to vote for your dogs?
    What we’ve got now are already barking!

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  29. 30
    Tom/Jerry

    Ho HO! Kevin,
    All the 101 of ‘em
    my daddy wouldn’t let we have a Bow wow-
    but two ships came a sailing
    Anyway I think Pop-eye for CM’ and mickey mouse for assistant —-

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  30. 31
    Truth Man

    Oh come on, Tony Spruce is no worse than the majority of our deputies, let’s not single him out. They are all a bunch of amateur wannabe politicians playing with our island. This is just another to add to the list of u-turns, false informations, bungled operations, poorly run tenure processes etc.

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