So we
know the runners and riders in the GSD Leadership Stakes and it’s a two horse
race. Daniel Feetham says he is going to say little more as “this is an internal matter for the GSD”.
He is right and he is wrong.
It will be the GSD executive that chooses the
party leader: no argument there. However we can only presume that the chosen
one will lead the GSD in to the next general election and will be the party’s
candidate for Chief Minister. Hence who the party elects is of interest to us
all.
I spoke on Tuesday to two people with very
differing views on the Bossino candidacy. One believed Damon was merely putting
his marker down for the future and hoping to secure the deputy leadership post.
In that person’s view Feetham is a shoo-in.
The other view was very different. That person
believes that Bossino is the candidate of the true GSD who wish to stop Feetham
at all costs. No surprise in that thesis but I was surprised by the strength
with which it was delivered.
I believe Daniel Feetham is the most interesting
politician. I may make him the subject of my second book. Second you make ask?
Yes my first belongs to another!
The Feetham family are socialist. Daniel Feetham
was a member of New Labour and returned to Gibraltar intent on taking the GSLP
crown when Joe Bossano stood aside. Joe wouldn’t budge so Danny stomped off to
form the Labour Party. That fell flat on its face electorally and as Feetham is
only in politics to be Chief Minister he made the ideological switch to the GSD
where he finds himself close to the first of his targets: the party leadership.
Whether he achieves that we will see in the coming weeks. If he does then the
GSD will have a socialist leader with the other socialist members of the family
waiting in the wings to take party positions. The attraction of Danny to the
GSD is he is an experienced politician who can perhaps give the GSLP Liberals a
run for their money. The problem for Feetham is if he fails. He has no desire
to be deputy to anybody: not Caruana and certainly not Bossino which sounds too
much like Bossano for his taste. I wouldn’t rule out another political
incarnation for Feetham or he may just decide the game is over: for now.
Which of course leaves us with Bossino. I said in
an article back in October that he could be shaping up to be the true GSD
leader. As the party leader really has to be in parliament the traditional wing
of the party had little other choice. There are two strong points for GSD
members in electing Bossino – the first is he isn’t Danny Feetham and the
second is he is not tarred by the Caruana administration brush. Against him is
the fact he is new to frontline politics. However I doubt if he is a fool and
he has three years as opposition leader to learn the ropes.
I agree with Bossino that a party leadership
contest is always desirable. I am sure Fabian Picardo would have welcomed a
challenge for the leadership of the GSLP. However since then he has passed the
ultimate test – being elected by the people of Gibraltar as their Chief
Minister.
Nor do leadership elections always turn out the
way a party imagines. The current leader of the Lib Dems and the UK’s deputy
prime minister is Nick Clegg. However had the 1,300 postal votes caught up in
the 2007 Christmas post not been excluded but added to the count it would be
Chris Huhne who would have led the party in to the last election as more Lib
Dems voted for him. Currently Huhne is out of the cabinet as he awaits trial
for perverting the cause of justice over a 2003 driving charge. He could yet
return to the Cabinet or be sent to jail.
I have yet to hear who Peter Caruana favours to
replace him. One has to remember that ahead of the last election he insists he
backed Fabien Vinet to be one of the GSD candidates only for the party to vote
him out. So may be having the former Supreme Leader’s hands placed upon you is
best avoided at all costs – especially if they are not on your head but around
your neck.
