OT minister keeps his seat
(CNS): Updated 8am — In what has proved to be an inconclusive result result in the UK general election, Overseas Territories Minister Chris Bryant has retained his seat. Although the Conservative Party has gained the most seats it has not won a majority and with less than a dozen seats to declare the Tories cannot yet form a government without the help of the Liberal Democrats. As a result the Labour government remains in power and Bryant in his job for at least the next few days. Bryant held on to his significant majority in his Welsh seat of Rhondda but the result for Great Britain as a whole remains far from certain.
After thirteen years in office the Labour government has lost its majority but nor has the opposition Conservative party gained enough of the key marginal seats it needed to take office.
Category: Headline News
My memory goes back to February 1974 when Harold Wilson took power from Ted Heath with a minority government then went back to the polls that October to scrape through with a three-seat majority.
It led to several years of chaotic management (I was a civil servant at the time) with Labour only hanging on to power by forming the notorious Lib-Lab pact to fend off a vote of no confidence in 1977.
In the end the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent (which was actually simply an extension into the public sector of earlier rounds of strikes in the private sector) put Jim Callaghan’s government out of it’s misery but by that time the country was in dire shape.
Now watch out for just about every trade union in the UK getting on the strike bandwagon to try and topple Cameron because history does repeat itself.
The only consolation for Cayman could be that the UK will be too busy sorting out its own problems to worry about you.
Never did like him!
Under him… some things went down that hurt alot of people!
I pray that he give 100% his heart and life to God
It’s not all cut and dried yet, there is now a coalition government and a deal must be made, could go either way. I just hope they choose wisely and all of the elected leaders come together and do what’s in the best interest of all UK citizens and their terrorities.
Interesting that the denial of access to the voting booths at closing time has led to estimates of about $1000 or more compensation per voter for denial of the right to vote enshrined in the ECHR and HRA. The resolution of this issue will give an indication of the minimum compensation UK citizens can expect to receive for their illegal denial of access to voting rights in Cayman for each election. But the Cayman compensation will be higher because the breach of rights is intentional and discriminatory. I would expect that the threat of a $10m plus legal action might be quite some leverage at the FCO . . . .
Chris Bryan only got about 17,000 total votes but a huge majority of 55%. In 2005 however he got 21,100 or about 68%. At least there is some solace that his popularity is heading in correct direction.
You almost have to wonder how can someone with so few parochial votes could have been the Minister in charge of Overseas Territories and Europe. Good indication of what the UK gives to the importance of our region. Great to see that he is no longer in that position.
"You almost have to wonder how can someone with so few parochial votes could have been the Minister in charge of Overseas Territories and Europe."
What gibberish. You obviously have no understanding of UK politics. Since when has the size of an MP’s constituency majority impacted upon his or her ability to take a post in government? I doubt the name Chris Patten means anything to you.
Anything is better than giving too much power to Ezzard, elected by 250 odd votes.
So it is gibberish when the point is made about Chris Bryant but valid when made against Ezzard Miller? LOL!
17000 is a healthy vote, 250 is a rotten borough.
250 CI voteswould be more than proportionate to 17,000 UK votes.
Hypocrites.
McKeeva is smiling now. Another reason to delay our "Hung" budget……..
Geeesh!!! I was hoping to say good riddance!!
I think you can. This is only saying that he was re-elected as an MP, not that he will re-gain his position as OT Minister. The latter is extremely unlikely.
Yes, this is true. Basically the guy’s toast in regard to Cayman, thank goodness. His attitude I never did approve of at all. He just never seemed to be acting "in the best interests" of the Cayman Islands. My best wishes for him and his groom, however.
It is not his job to be acting in the best interest of the Cayman Islands. It is always his job to act in the best interest of Britain and that includes the Cayman Islands as part of British territory. To think of the Cayman Islands in isolation would be wholly improper. The Privy Council recently confirmed this and I am glad they did.
Couldn’t agree with you more. My use of inverted commas around "in the best interests" was simply intended to convey an awareness of the reality of things, which your spot-on followup commentary has vigorously illustrated.
I just love the look on Gordon Browns face.
I bet he will wear that look all the way to the next general election.
I cant wait to see what Obamas face will look like come November.
Oops, someone wasn’t praying hard enough
Does this now mean that we will have a "hung" budget as i understood that we were all waiting on the election outcome before the budget gets tabled?
We are going to see more "close" elections, as people begin to realize it’s like watching wrestling. It’s fake. None of them actually have a clue and elections instead are based on which special interest groups have delivered the most funds for campaigns based on slogans. And those are our choices the… obviously… Incompetent Incumbents or the Obfuscating Opposition. We choose what we consider to be the lesser of two evils. It is still faith-based and it is still getting us in deeper and deeper trouble, as politics becomes a career move rather than an important calling. I don’t really care who wins. They all look the same when we’re left in the dark. The next bunch will get in and pad their expense and living accounts, help their friends, and trade places next time. The scandals will be the same it’s just the faces that will change.
Yawn
The deeds of Gordon Brown finally caught up. Tories will form the next Government. I predict 314 seats, 12 shy of the 326 majority.
The people of the UK reject Gordon Brown wicked ways.