Next Chief Minister?

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There is support for the idea that the Chief Minister should be elected via the voters rather than MHKs and last time around one of the arguments posters made against HQ being Chief Minister was that he did not top the poll in middle. 

If we follow the above then neither Thomas or Allinson should be in the running which basically leaves Cannan and Waterson as the two experienced MHks who have been re-elected with a substantial number of votes. I have excluded Ashford as he again said in his post election interview he would not stand for CM.

If neither of them and you are looking for individuals who topped the vote and have been in Tynwald previously then the two former lady MLCs had substantial margins or with some of the lady MHKs elected at the last election with narrower margins.

Gut feeling is we will see a vote off Cannan and Waterson, especially as Hooper has not LV members to nominate him.

[Beelzebub3]

I suspect JPW would make a good CM although I doubt the mens club will allow that to happen.

[CallMeCurious]

The CM should be a seperate and concurrent election for the whole island. That way you are voting for policies they have to espouse up front. You vote MHK's in as your local reperesentative. And a candidate cannot stand for both positions. So the likes of Allinson etc. would need to choose and then campaign on local or national level and we actually get a choice of the direction we want to go in the next 5 years.

Right now we will be in limbo for another month at least before they even start on reforming or keeping policies at a time when there are critical isues to be sorted. For example gas pricing, rising fuel costs, NI insurance increase or not, which will all impact the economy before Christmas. At least with a CM elected with the new HOK, they could hit the ground running from day one.

When is the CM vote?

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by CallMeCurious
typo

[Lost Login]

7 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

I suspect JPW would make a good CM although I doubt the mens club will allow that to happen.

She may do but I think it is unrealistic that an individual would be elected as CM who has not previously been an MHK let alone in a government department. Talk pre election was one of several current ministers and my question really was should they be ruled out as they did not top the polls which was a criticism leveled against HQ and would go against those who call for the CM to be popularly elected and have a public mandate.

 

 

[Beelzebub3]

11 minutes ago, Lost Login said:

She may do but I think it is unrealistic that an individual would be elected as CM who has not previously been an MHK let alone in a government department. Talk pre election was one of several current ministers and my question really was should they be ruled out as they did not top the polls which was a criticism leveled against HQ and would go against those who call for the CM to be popularly elected and have a public mandate.

 

 

She has probably more experience than a lot in the Keys, she was MLC for a few years so not a "greenhorn" and IMO has the ability and would have the capability above what is required to be CM.

[Ham_N_Eggs]

Cannan should be nowhere near the Chief Minister role or Treasury if we want progress during the next administration. Watterson would also not be a good choice. Allinson would be a much more inclusive Chief Minister but my preferred candidate is JPW. Heads and shoulders above the rest. Why? Just go and listen to her in debates in Tynwald or pulling apart poor legislation in LegCo. Switched on, intelligent and a fantastic public speaker.

[wrighty]

I’d like to see a directly elected CM. But as we don’t have that yet, I don’t think coming second in a seat should preclude an MHK getting the job. For example, if one of the Douglas South MHKs were up for it, should a difference of 2 votes mean they can’t stand? And there might be tactical voting going on which could explain Allinson and Thomas getting second spot. 
 

The people need to vote in CM in a parallel, national poll. 

[Ham_N_Eggs]

22 minutes ago, Lost Login said:

She may do but I think it is unrealistic that an individual would be elected as CM who has not previously been an MHK let alone in a government department. Talk pre election was one of several current ministers and my question really was should they be ruled out as they did not top the polls which was a criticism leveled against HQ and would go against those who call for the CM to be popularly elected and have a public mandate.

 

 

That stupid modern tradition landed us with crap administration after crap administration. Nothing ever changes if you keep making the same mistakes.

[Ham_N_Eggs]

5 minutes ago, wrighty said:

I’d like to see a directly elected CM. But as we don’t have that yet, I don’t think coming second in a seat should preclude an MHK getting the job. For example, if one of the Douglas South MHKs were up for it, should a difference of 2 votes mean they can’t stand? And there might be tactical voting going on which could explain Allinson and Thomas getting second spot. 
 

The people need to vote in CM in a parallel, national poll. 

Alternately just reduce the power of the Chief Minister by having the Ministers elected by Tynwald instead of by the Chief Minister as a favour for voting for them. It would remove the power of the Chief Minister to hire and fire at whim (let's not forget Costains bunch of flowers and a forced resignation) which seems to originate from trying to make the system similar to that we had with the Governor being in charge. It means that when Ministers mess up Tynwald can remove them rather the Chief Minister who may not fire them for fear of losing a loyal supporter (Cregeen, Baker, Harmer and Boot all should have gone at various points). Too much power in one person's hands is never a good thing.

[Shake me up Judy]

Cannan is the only sensible option for CM. It'll be interesting though to watch if the real decision makers get to work on Ashford to step forward. 

[Lost Login]

56 minutes ago, wrighty said:

 I don’t think coming second in a seat should preclude an MHK getting the job. For example, if one of the Douglas South MHKs were up for it, should a difference of 2 votes mean they can’t stand? 

I agree it should be the best person for the job but last time one of the criticisms leveled against HQ being CM was he did not top the poll in Middle. I have never understood if that was a genuine point of principle or just an argument used because they did not want HQ as CM? 

I don't think it makes a huge difference to policies who is CM due to our system and constraints. To get policy through you end up with a coalition of policy based on who is the Council of Ministers and then financially we rely on being a low tax jurisdiction yet have large bills to pay for public services like NHS, education amd pensions. Add in that as a small country we have to maintain confidence of investors, good relations with near neighbours then apart from a small tweaking here and there re internal matters then I don't see any great differences arising except in presentation.

[Holte End]

Doesn't the role of CM go to whoever is second in middle, so therefore the role should go to Mr Peters.

[WTF]

Cannan.

[manxman34]

Cannan is right-wing, in the pocket of the CoC, and fundamentally not that bright. He is confident (Army) and looks at ease as a minister (family entitlement), but is that enough? Watterson is a lightweight, with poor judgement, re-elected because of family ties.  JPW is very bright, analytical, pragmatic and would be excellent. She is in a different league to most of Tynwald and just the high quality individual people keep saying we need. but I suspect it will be more of the same old mediocrity and failure, I'm afraid.

[Andy Onchan]

2 hours ago, wrighty said:

I’d like to see a directly elected CM. But as we don’t have that yet, I don’t think coming second in a seat should preclude an MHK getting the job. For example, if one of the Douglas South MHKs were up for it, should a difference of 2 votes mean they can’t stand? And there might be tactical voting going on which could explain Allinson and Thomas getting second spot. 
 

The people need to vote in CM in a parallel, national poll. 

Having a directly elected CM really won't make much difference in the way the Island is governed. 99.99% of policy is comes from the departments not MHKs and much of it mirrors the UK. What we need is someone who possesses eloquence and is able to speak with a level of authority on behalf of the Island to the rest of the world.  JPW would be my preferred "leader".