A Look at Manifestoes: Lyndon Farnham
This is a look at his 2014 Manifesto.
“Tourism - It’s time to LOVE Tourism again! I will ensure that the Visit Jersey board is fully established and properly resourced to ensure that this important pillar of our economy can once again prosper.”
One of the features in his manifesto was the formation of Visit Jersey, in which he was successful, or to be more exact, he made the right choice in appointing Kevin Keen to set it up and head-hunt Keith Beacham. That has been successful but whether that is more down to Kevin Keen or Lyndon Farnham, I’d leave to the reader. I know where I’d place my bet.
Kevin Keen, it may be remembered was also brought in by Durrell Wildlife Trust to help head hunt the right kind of CEO when it was facing an uncertain future, a task which he did very successfully.
“Economic Diversity - Helps to defeat economic decline and offer new opportunities in employment, skills and the availability of goods and services. I will ensure investment in emerging industries and small business start-ups by fully utilising innovation and development funding and support”
Unfortunately Kevin Keen was not at hand when it came to oversight of the Innovation Board, and the States Innovation Board was something of a disaster, not least because of the rogue Chief Officer of Economic Development, who also was notorious for apparently taking friends at taxpayers’ expense to freebie Rugby Matches in England, and playing golf in South Africa when down there on a trade mission, after taking possibly the most expensive flight possible to go out there.
Signing off States loans on the Innovation fund, and being unaware of the way in which Mike King appeared to be out of control does suggests that the success of Visit Jersey was more due to Kevin Keen, and the failure of the Innovation Fund was more due to Mike King.
This leads me to the view that when Lyndon Farnham picks the right person to delegate matters to, it will be a success, when he does not, it will turn into a disaster, but he does not always have the knack of judging whether he is picking the right person, or, if they turn out to be the wrong person, exercising any kind of control over them.
It may be remembered that an immediate suspension of the Innovation fund only came about when Philip Ozouf was brought in to troubleshoot the mess it had got itself into, and either Lyndon Farnham did not exercise enough oversight to know, or he knew but trusted that under Mike King, matters would somehow sort themselves out.
Lurking in among “putting tourism on the map” is the “rejuvenation of Fort Regent” which seems to have passed him by.
Interestingly low down on his agenda, and very delayed in emerging was the Rural Economy Strategy. Indeed that does not even feature in his 2014 manifesto, and yet forms part of the brief of the department he hope to attain, and did attain as Minister for Economic Development.
Much delayed, taking two years to emerge after promised, it was supposed to contain a policy on food security – something which might come to mind when strong winds curtail ships bringing food to the island – but that didn’t form part of it and was only after repeated FOE requests published, first an out of date policy document from around 8 years ago, and finally a more up to date one which is more of a sketch for a policy. Basically, if something doesn’t interest Lyndon, he doesn’t bother much to it.
Hence we have the Triathlon coming to Jersey, and lots of interest by him in that, but complete neglect of what to do with Fort Regent. Likewise, the inter-island ferry agreements were delayed and nearly scuppered, not because of Guernsey who had agreed terms, but because of Lyndon’s tardiness.
With regard to Condor, he has more or less been content to let things drift, and not pushed hard for a better service. In that of course, he was partly hamstrung by his predecessor Alan Maclean, who cheerfully signed a contract which made no demands or put no penalties on Condor for a poor service. The most we have is “Clearly the situation is unacceptable”. He called for a “comprehensive service review”, said it would be examined carefully, and then went quiet on the whole issue.
Now Condor is up for sale, and as a major transport of tourism and food to the Island, you’d expect him to comment but all we have are a set of blog postings on visitor numbers, important, but as he cites Condor as supplying some, you’d expect more comment that: “I am delighted with the news that we are finally beginning to grow our visor economy on a year round basis.” Perhaps if he took the visor off he’d see the misprint and the important issues in this vital supply line.
“Economic Growth if properly delivered does not lead to excessive population growth. We need to plan carefully for sustainable population growth which, if prudently and consistently managed, will assist us to develop as an economy and a community for the benefit of all we must pay particular attention to immigration which must be tightly controlled.”
Not much has happened on that score with the Senator’s input. No propositions when the interim policy came to an end, and yet the Senator was admirably placed to raise the subject as a member of the Council of Ministers. But then that might be more controversial, and Lyndon seems to prefer proposals which lead to feel-good stories in which he can feature as the architect.
“The size of our States Assembly should be reduced. We must keep the island wide mandate. I believe that Connétables should continue to sit in the States by virtue of their office. I also believe that the number of Deputies should be reduced.”
To be fair, Lyndon did bring an amendment to Andrew Lewis’ proposition to do exactly this. That is to his credit, but against that it should be noted that, firstly, he was making a reactive amendment to Andrew Lewis’ proposition, and had not taken the initiative himself, and secondly, he had done nothing until mid-2017, despite getting back into the States in November 2014.
“I do not favour party politics, I favour TEAM politics.”
This, of course, is the Minister who broke from Collective Responsibility when it came to a vote on the 20% retail tax, and yet was happy with Collective Responsibility when it enabled him and some fellow Ministers to force Ian Gorst’s hand on sacking Philip Ozouf. Quite what team politics means in that context, I’m not sure. But then Collective Responsibility has been proven to be disfunctional, and he agrees with Ian Gorst's decision to scrap it.
In conclusion
There have been some successes – Visit Jersey, Events Jersey, Sport Jersey – although control of the these Quangoes and their subjection to FOE requests is something which perhaps needs firmer resolution. But having hived them off, what is left for Economic Development? Charlie Parker is probably right to scrap it in his reorganisation, along with the rump of a Housing Ministry.
Lyndon Farnham’s record has been patchy, and where matters are successful – and generate a lot of good publicity – he can be seen at the forefront. When matters go awry, as with the Innovation Fund, Fort Regent, or Condor, or do not have the publicity of a splash – like the Rural Economy Strategy, he is not so visible. Occasionally, he has given Assistant Ministers the job of imparting bad news, or of taking on impossible tasks – such as the Jersey Aircraft Registry. .
This is a look at his 2014 Manifesto.
“Tourism - It’s time to LOVE Tourism again! I will ensure that the Visit Jersey board is fully established and properly resourced to ensure that this important pillar of our economy can once again prosper.”
One of the features in his manifesto was the formation of Visit Jersey, in which he was successful, or to be more exact, he made the right choice in appointing Kevin Keen to set it up and head-hunt Keith Beacham. That has been successful but whether that is more down to Kevin Keen or Lyndon Farnham, I’d leave to the reader. I know where I’d place my bet.
Kevin Keen, it may be remembered was also brought in by Durrell Wildlife Trust to help head hunt the right kind of CEO when it was facing an uncertain future, a task which he did very successfully.
“Economic Diversity - Helps to defeat economic decline and offer new opportunities in employment, skills and the availability of goods and services. I will ensure investment in emerging industries and small business start-ups by fully utilising innovation and development funding and support”
Unfortunately Kevin Keen was not at hand when it came to oversight of the Innovation Board, and the States Innovation Board was something of a disaster, not least because of the rogue Chief Officer of Economic Development, who also was notorious for apparently taking friends at taxpayers’ expense to freebie Rugby Matches in England, and playing golf in South Africa when down there on a trade mission, after taking possibly the most expensive flight possible to go out there.
Signing off States loans on the Innovation fund, and being unaware of the way in which Mike King appeared to be out of control does suggests that the success of Visit Jersey was more due to Kevin Keen, and the failure of the Innovation Fund was more due to Mike King.
This leads me to the view that when Lyndon Farnham picks the right person to delegate matters to, it will be a success, when he does not, it will turn into a disaster, but he does not always have the knack of judging whether he is picking the right person, or, if they turn out to be the wrong person, exercising any kind of control over them.
It may be remembered that an immediate suspension of the Innovation fund only came about when Philip Ozouf was brought in to troubleshoot the mess it had got itself into, and either Lyndon Farnham did not exercise enough oversight to know, or he knew but trusted that under Mike King, matters would somehow sort themselves out.
Lurking in among “putting tourism on the map” is the “rejuvenation of Fort Regent” which seems to have passed him by.
Interestingly low down on his agenda, and very delayed in emerging was the Rural Economy Strategy. Indeed that does not even feature in his 2014 manifesto, and yet forms part of the brief of the department he hope to attain, and did attain as Minister for Economic Development.
Much delayed, taking two years to emerge after promised, it was supposed to contain a policy on food security – something which might come to mind when strong winds curtail ships bringing food to the island – but that didn’t form part of it and was only after repeated FOE requests published, first an out of date policy document from around 8 years ago, and finally a more up to date one which is more of a sketch for a policy. Basically, if something doesn’t interest Lyndon, he doesn’t bother much to it.
Hence we have the Triathlon coming to Jersey, and lots of interest by him in that, but complete neglect of what to do with Fort Regent. Likewise, the inter-island ferry agreements were delayed and nearly scuppered, not because of Guernsey who had agreed terms, but because of Lyndon’s tardiness.
With regard to Condor, he has more or less been content to let things drift, and not pushed hard for a better service. In that of course, he was partly hamstrung by his predecessor Alan Maclean, who cheerfully signed a contract which made no demands or put no penalties on Condor for a poor service. The most we have is “Clearly the situation is unacceptable”. He called for a “comprehensive service review”, said it would be examined carefully, and then went quiet on the whole issue.
Now Condor is up for sale, and as a major transport of tourism and food to the Island, you’d expect him to comment but all we have are a set of blog postings on visitor numbers, important, but as he cites Condor as supplying some, you’d expect more comment that: “I am delighted with the news that we are finally beginning to grow our visor economy on a year round basis.” Perhaps if he took the visor off he’d see the misprint and the important issues in this vital supply line.
“Economic Growth if properly delivered does not lead to excessive population growth. We need to plan carefully for sustainable population growth which, if prudently and consistently managed, will assist us to develop as an economy and a community for the benefit of all we must pay particular attention to immigration which must be tightly controlled.”
Not much has happened on that score with the Senator’s input. No propositions when the interim policy came to an end, and yet the Senator was admirably placed to raise the subject as a member of the Council of Ministers. But then that might be more controversial, and Lyndon seems to prefer proposals which lead to feel-good stories in which he can feature as the architect.
“The size of our States Assembly should be reduced. We must keep the island wide mandate. I believe that Connétables should continue to sit in the States by virtue of their office. I also believe that the number of Deputies should be reduced.”
To be fair, Lyndon did bring an amendment to Andrew Lewis’ proposition to do exactly this. That is to his credit, but against that it should be noted that, firstly, he was making a reactive amendment to Andrew Lewis’ proposition, and had not taken the initiative himself, and secondly, he had done nothing until mid-2017, despite getting back into the States in November 2014.
“I do not favour party politics, I favour TEAM politics.”
This, of course, is the Minister who broke from Collective Responsibility when it came to a vote on the 20% retail tax, and yet was happy with Collective Responsibility when it enabled him and some fellow Ministers to force Ian Gorst’s hand on sacking Philip Ozouf. Quite what team politics means in that context, I’m not sure. But then Collective Responsibility has been proven to be disfunctional, and he agrees with Ian Gorst's decision to scrap it.
In conclusion
There have been some successes – Visit Jersey, Events Jersey, Sport Jersey – although control of the these Quangoes and their subjection to FOE requests is something which perhaps needs firmer resolution. But having hived them off, what is left for Economic Development? Charlie Parker is probably right to scrap it in his reorganisation, along with the rump of a Housing Ministry.
Lyndon Farnham’s record has been patchy, and where matters are successful – and generate a lot of good publicity – he can be seen at the forefront. When matters go awry, as with the Innovation Fund, Fort Regent, or Condor, or do not have the publicity of a splash – like the Rural Economy Strategy, he is not so visible. Occasionally, he has given Assistant Ministers the job of imparting bad news, or of taking on impossible tasks – such as the Jersey Aircraft Registry. .
He's a fluent talker, and that will probably stand him in good stead with some voters in the forthcoming election, but he also sees himself as Chief Minister, and no one I have canvassed on that has seen him in that role: the immediate response has been incredulity and laughter. However, I am sure he has canvassed on the subject and other people see the matter differently. I do think it might damage his vote for those who think he is a good Senator, but not perhaps Chief Minister material. Those I have spoken to, even those voting for him as Senator, see him as too lightweight for the demands of that office, and I'm inclined to agree with that.
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