Chains Of Command

Christian Dunleavy is confused as to why, in the absence of Alex Scott, Randy Horton was acting Premier at yesterday’s Labour Day celebrations at Bernard Park, an event at which Deputy Premier Dr. Ewart Brown was also present.

Presumably it was because as Minister of Labour, the Government felt that Mr. Horton was better suited to be the national leader on Labour Day than Dr. Brown, a medical practitioner with a distinct absence of dirt beneath his fingernails, currently enjoying less than cordial relations with the Island’s taxi drivers. But it still sounds like a bit of a cop-out to me.

I’m also bewildered as to why the UBP chose Kim Swan as the acting Opposition Leader for the event. Although Grant Gibbons (Opposition Leader), Michael Dunkley (Deputy Opposition Leader) and Maxwell Burgess (Shadow Labour Minister) were all on holiday yesterday, Mr. Swan isn’t even an MP, having been appointed to his position as Opposition Leader in the Senate following his defeat by Dean Foggo in last year’s election. Surely it would have been more appropriate for David Dodwell, a former Deputy Leader who accompanied Mr. Swan to the event, to have deputised for Dr. Gibbons?

Perhaps the UBP were concerned that the black workers would find it hard to connect with the white Mr. Dodwell, a fact the latter wryly acknowledged in his speech. But if that’s the case, why then does the UBP persist in having two wealthy white men as Leader and Deputy Leader of the party?