There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour – Benjamin Disraeli
Recent election results in St. Lucia and Jamaica suggest the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has been naughty. The ‘gift’ to the DLP this Yuletide Season has been ‘The Letter‘.
Chatter on the underground suggest Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart will issue a statement perhaps as early as this weekend. The expectation by many political pundits is that one or more in the camp will have to pay for the widely discussed treachery exposed by the NATION newspaper. The flipside is the parallel chatter that key players have been placed on election watch in the event Prime Minister Stuart calls a ‘snap’ election. If the St. Lucia result forced a few government MPs to seek audience with the Prime Minister – Sinckler admitted to the treachery in the NATION’s Big Interview – how will the Jamaica result have exacerbated the concerns for those on the government bench.
Some believe Prime Minister Stuart has taken too long to act but it should be obvious he is not the type to react in the midst of the Christmas season. Stuart is known to be a devout Christian and would not have contemplated interrupting a significant Christian festival by responding to what some believe to be political chicanery in his camp.
The disquiet in the DLP camp caused by concern at Prime Minister Stuart’s leadership style has effectively ruled out an early call to arms or has it? This matter was brought to a head by a poll allegedly undertaken by pollster Peter Wickham which was not complimentary of Stuart’s leadership of the government. Here is that name again Peter Wickham!
The wind of change which blew in 2008 and swept the Thompson led DLP to power has changed direction – made more blustery by interacting with protracted harsh global economic conditions. Logical thought makes it absolutely certain that Stuart’s options have become limited about when he can call elections. He will need all the time which is constitutionally due to band-aid the ills of his party, unless he does a Sandie.
Prime Minister Stuart, entrusted to perform a caretaker role during the period the late PM Thompson was sick would be acutely aware of what he has in common with former Prime Ministers of St. Lucia and Jamaica. He should also be sensitive to a view that his unflappable and laidback style does not mesh with a majority of public perception who have bought into the rambunctious political style practiced by Errol Barrow, Tom Adams, Owen Arthur. The speed with which the late Bree St. John and Erskine Sandiford – who had comparable easy going styles – were transported into the realm of political oblivion should also be top of Stuart’s mind. Despite his repertoire of philosophical knowledge, the colloquial adage rings true, Prime Stuart finds himself between ‘a rock and a hard place’.
It is obvious PM Stuart has to respond to the suffocating perception that there is disorder in his camp, he must respond. The only reason he wouldn’t is if he intends to execute a ‘Sandie’ and force all hands to negotiate a burning deck by letting the public decide. BU believes this is not the stuff that PM Stuart is made off. As a keen student of history, win lose or draw come the next general election, he would want history to record that he made decisions to stand the test of stern scrutiny.
The irony is that Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart may have brought this brouhaha upon himself by not discerning the grey clouds which have been gathering under his watch for some time now. Perhaps it best explains why some in the camp travelled the route of the letter.
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