In the coming months and years, there will be ample opportunity for the new man at the top to show that his desire for a collective approach, rather than division and strife, was genuine, but it must be said that he has failed to get off to a flying start. The elections for the Council of Ministers was the ideal opportunity to encourage the formation of a Jersey ‘rainbow alliance’.
However, instead of nominating ministerial candidates representing a range of viewpoints, Senator Le Sueur chose the conservative path, opting principally for politicians associated with the old order.
In fairness, the Senator might well have been motivated by eagerness to see safe pairs of hands in key positions in the light of the tremendous challenges that the year ahead will undoubtedly present. Indeed, going into the future, as it is currently shaping up, with an unproven team would have required courage of a high order.
That said, there is undoubtedly room in the executive for a range of belief and political orientation. Are we, for example, to believe that if a ministerial place had been found for the likes of Senator Alan Breckon, the balance of the whole edifice would have been destroyed? Senator Breckon might instinctively be a man of the left, but he is also a man of reason.
Now, as matters stand, we see the promise not of unity but of division, with a nascent 11-Member opposition forming from those who believe themselves to be outside the establishment.
Senator Le Sueur’s initial vision of harmony was no doubt more appealing than the prospect of organised conflict, but it must be said that bilateral politics could also produce useful results.
To begin with, even an informal opposition could free Scrutiny to fulfil its intended role as a ‘critical friend’ to the policy-making apparatus. In addition, reasoned, effective opposition, untainted by acrimony and immoderate personal attacks, could even help to produce the very balance that the new Chief Minister said that he hoped to see.
