SIR PHILIP BAILHACHE, the former Bailiff of Jersey, had a remarkable election in that island last week when he topped the poll in the senatorial ballot with more than 17,500 votes.

As a man of considerable standing and experience, getting elected wasn’t a surprise – but his manifesto might be to people in Guernsey.

It was an almost single issue campaign: major reform to the way the States of Jersey operates, and Jersey electors lapped it up.

The reputation of the States had seldom been lower. Too much time was wasted discussing trivial matters and too much energy was wasted on personal antagonisms.

With ministerial government in place, there are too many members and the process of scrutiny is not working and needs to be reformed.

In addition, the chief minister should be allowed to choose his ministers so they can work together as a team. They should be collectively accountable to the majority in the States and be removed if they lose the confidence of that majority.

There was more, particularly about Jersey learning to live within its means and remaining a low tax jurisdiction but the striking thing is that the vote he received suggests Jersey voters felt that Sir Philip was talking sense.

Indeed, his views resonate in the Guernsey context except in one crucial area. Jersey’s political process now has leadership and it is the refining of that system that Sir Philip espouses.

Guernsey, on the other hand, has no leadership and, because there is no enthusiasm for acquiring it, is expending considerable energy on trying to get around that fundamental deficiency.

The States Strategic Plan, the capital expenditure prioritisation process, adoption of the rules of good governance and even, to a degree, the moves on freedom of information, are all attempts at trying to keep the Assembly on a particular course.

They are all good things in their own right but are necessary because there is no other way of ensuring that the obvious is adhered to in a world where everything of significance is decided by a committee of 47.

And while progress is being made, it is only a sticking plaster over the underlying problem.