FEETHAM: GIBRALTAR ESPAÑOL’S PIN-UP BOY

Around mid-morning last Wednesday I was talking to colleagues from Rumanian and Poland at the Europcom 2013 Conference at the EU’s Committee of the Regions. The red light on my Blackberry started to flash and as I opened up the email my face obviously changed from happy chatter to stunned silence. It was significantly different enough for my colleagues to ask was everything was alright. I assured them it was but hurriedly moved away.

What I had seen on the Blackberry screen was the Gibraltar Español banner beneath which was a bizarre photograph of the GSD Leader Daniel Feetham. Then the message from Gibraltar Español itself: “#Gibraltar Daniel Feetham critica el ataque a #España en la ONU de Fabian Picardo y Denis Matthews. parece que por fin empieza a aparecer gente cuerda en la Colonia.” You can imagine the comments by the boys and girls who support Gibraltar Español that followed.

The article in the Spanish media accompanying the Gibraltar Español piece continued: “El líder de la oposición Daniel Feetham ha criticado tanto al Gobierno como al grupo en Pro de la Autodeterminación SDGG por las acusaciones que han realizado en su reciente visita a las Naciones Unidas.

Las acusaciones contra España de conducir una campaña de odio contra los gibraltareños las cataloga de inadecuadas en un momento en que Gibraltar está buscando el diálogo.

“El líder GSD ha dicho que  “el Gobierno debe mantener la cabeza ” y fue crítico con las acusaciones que Fabian Picardo planteó a la Comisión del IV Comité de la ONU.

“Así mismo calificó de “insensibles” las declaraciones hechas por el presidente del SDGG Denis Matthews , cuando sugirió que las acciones de España se podían recoger en una definición de la UE contra el terrorismo.”

Well the rest you know!

The fact that I was 1,000 miles from Gibraltar in Brussels at the time is significant because this was not a parish pump issue but impacted on our standing around the world.

When the latest crisis with Spain started in August the Opposition had two real options. The first was to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Government or the second was to stay silently so as not to rock the boat. They opted for the second but as their sullen attendance at National Day, in stark contrast to Prime Minister David Cameron’s strong message of support” showed they were not happy bunnies.

So for the past months we have had the scenario where our Government, supported by the people of Gibraltar and backed 100 per cent by all major political parties in the UK have faced down Spain. There was no chink in our armour and the threats against our Chief Minister intensified as Madrid’s frustration grew. Then enter Daniel Feetham who did not rock the boat he capsized it.

Let’s move on to last Thursday when our Government issued a statement stating “the Opposition regarding criticism of Mr Feetham on Facebook is” involved in “a feeble attempt to turn the tables after he has put his foot his foot in it. The plain fact is that the Opposition's criticism of the Chief Minister's speech at the United Nations has been a monumental error of judgement.”

Some would judge that was an understatement.

It continues: “Members of the GSD have written on social media saying they are leaving the party as a result of Mr Feetham's leadership and in particular his handling of this matter.”

Their words not mine.

However what was jaw dropping was the Opposition contention the call on “the Government to condemn criticism of Mr Feetham, when he has not even had the decency to formally condemn the poisonous attacks against Gibraltar in general and Mr Picardo in particular, including the constant death threats and abuse against him, that have been ongoing in Spain for over two months.”

I couldn’t have written it better myself.

Feetham’s future will be decided in the near future by the GSD or maybe by the people of Gibraltar. The honourable decision for him would be to resign but then if honour was the criteria he wouldn’t have wrecked the boat in the first place. If it’s the latter then it will be the Chief Minister’s call. He will have to decide what impact the Opposition Leader’s words have had in Spain. If he feels the damage is severe then he may feel it is necessary to call a snap general election and ask the people of Gibraltar to endorse his actions as their elected leader. It will give Feetham the platform to openly voice his vision of his Gibraltar which only the PP seems to share. It will be left to the people will decide whether “el Gobierno debe mantener la cabeza ” – Fabian Picardo.

WOULD WE HAVE THIS CRISIS UNDER THE GSD?

If in December 2011 Gibraltar had returned again a GSD government would we be going through the current crisis with Spain? The answer is of course we simply do not know but we can make some educated guesses.

The first observation to make is that the problems with Spain are not new. They have been going on for over three hundred years, for a period we saw the border closed and usually when the Partido Popular are in power there’s a more forceful chanting of the Gibraltar Español mantra. So the fact that we have endured a long hot summer is nothing unique.

What we can probably say with certainty is that if we now had a GSD government the accord with the local fishermen, which has seen them break Gibraltarian law with impunity. would not have been rescinded. It therefore follows that the reef would not have been placed in our territorial waters because Gibraltar would not have had a proactive environmental policy.

So if you believe the summer campaign by Spain was caused by the reef and generated by the scrapping of the illegal fishing accord shortly after the GSLP Liberals came in to government you might argue all would be peace and harmony.

However the fact is the fishing accord and reef were only the excuses that Madrid needed and not the root cause. The Partido Popular spent two terms in opposition plotting how to both dismantle PSOE’s international treaties with Gibraltar and also how to instil Gibraltar Español as a central plank of its “foreign” policy. On being elected around the same time as our own Government it made its intentions crystal clear so the crisis should be no surprise to anyone.

Having first defended the eight hour border queues as punishment for the reef laying Madrid quickly changed tack and declared it was to prevent smuggling. This pasodoble was because the Spanish Government realised it could not defend the abusive queues by pointing at a reef at the end of the runway buried metres under British Gibraltarian waters. So it became official: the border chaos has nothing to do with the fishing dispute or the reef - it’s all about tobacco.

One of the measures that Margallo has threatened Gibraltar with is the toll. This, of course, is nothing new for it first made its appearance when we had a GSD government. Indeed the then maverick PP mayor of La Línea, Alejandro Sánchez, who is now said to be guiding the Spanish Government’s “dirty tricks on Gibraltar department” in Madrid, went much further than mere suggestions. Indeed I suspect the concrete lane markings he laid out as you enter La Línea can still be seen to this day. Sánchez is foe to both GSD and GSLP chief ministers alike. ¡Gibraltar Español! is emblazoned on his t-shirt.

So what are the other issues that Rajoy and Margallo take with Gibraltar? Well chief amongst them is the Córdoba Accord which was the shining policy of the GSD. There’s tobacco, bunkering, all matters financial, phone lines, the sovereignty of our waters and air space, land reclamation, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. None of these are new and all existed under the GSD and would exist now. They are a target for Madrid whoever is in power here.

Even when the fishing accord was in place the Guardia Civil still made incursions in to our waters. Indeed during the GSD era they even landed, shopped in Main Street, bought monkey t-shirts for the kids, purchased cartons of cigarettes in black plastic bags and stashed a bottle of whisky not DYC down their trousers before heading home. OK I made the very last bit up but you get my gist.

The fact is the current crisis with Spain is nothing to do about fishing, nothing to do about the reef, little to do with Bárcenas or the PP’s other corruption scandals, little to do either with that country’s economic crisis but everything to do with Gibraltar Español. The crisis would have come whoever was in power only its timing may have been different.

There are several good things to come out of the summer heat. The vicious campaign, especially in the Spanish media, against our Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, shows how little the Spaniards understand Gibraltarians or the British. The aim was to make us turn against our leader and for Westminster to disown him. The opposite has happened. Gibraltarians have rallied to his side and the British Government has never been a stronger ally. British Gibraltar rules ok!

The crisis also means that much of what we have suffered in silence over the years is now out in the open. Brussels is involved on a number of fronts as well too could be the international courts and even the UN before the year is out. The fascist Gibraltar Español policy of the PP will be shown up for what it is and if we play our cards right Gibraltar can emerge stronger not weaker.

One Gibraltar, one Rock, one people.

PDP COMING SECOND WOULD BE A WIN

 

I believe there are two sets of candidates in this by-election: those who are in it to win and those who are standing more in hope than in expectation.

In the first camp is Albert Isola, who is standing to replace the late lamented Charles Bruzon. The GSLP naturally hopes that Isola will retain Bruzon’s seat and if he does I believe he will bring added even exceptional talents to the government. Also in this camp I put Nick Cruz because I suspect he believes he has the ability to win even if the reality is he may have to settle for second. Ironically a victory for Isola and second for Cruz would mark them both down as winners. Interestingly those I have spoken to say that is how they rated them after the Caleta Chamber dinner.

In the second group are the GSD who had they been wise would never have been in the race in the first place. However they are so their objective has become not to snatch a GSLP seat but to stop themselves being shoved in to third (or even fourth) place. Bryan Zammit the Second is the rank outsider but he wants to heighten his profile. I have no trouble with that: a man can not live by pizza alone.

As Danny Feetham learnt before with his short spell as Labour leader breakaway parties usually go unelected and hence have a hard time of it. However the party that Keith Azopardi built and Nick Cruz now leads has a genuine chance not so much to be elected but to force itself into the mainstream political arena.

If the PDP can put up a good showing in this election and push the GSD in to third place then at the next election, when a full slate of seats are up for grabs, we could well see PDP MPs in Parliament: they may even form the Opposition.

Cruz has already shown he understands the right strategy for this election with his statement on the government’s budget which was largely supportive. Of course he will set down how the PDP would govern differently from the GSLP and Liberals, he will offer constructive criticism, but his real task is to persuade GSD voters that their home is now with his party and not that of Feetham. He has to tackle the GSD head on.

There is only one result that will save Feetham and that is for the GSD to win Charles Bruzon’s seat. If they come second Feetham will have failed at his first fence. If the GSD comes second with the PDP breathing down its neck alarm bells will ring in the party’s ranks. If the PDP come second it could spell the beginning of the end of Feetham’s hold on power. In this election the PDP has everything to win and the GSD everything to lose.

I have a soft spot for the PDP and have written here before about my admiration for how in the past they have engaged in community politics. I have to say I believe the PDP is miles from being a party of government and in many ways the party organisation has been woeful – they could learn a lot from the old unelected GNP-Liberals. None-the-less with a new leader they have a new opportunity and could yet become the new GSD.

As always it will be for you, the voters, to decide.

GSD: IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE

A week to by-election day when the voters of Gibraltar and not pundits like me will decide who will be our new MP. However with a week to go I will none the less give my reflections on how I see the state of play for the GSD. I will turn to Albert and to Neil in the coming days.

I am still of the view that the coming by-election could be disastrous for the GSD and for Danny Feetham’s leadership. Had the GSD been wise they would have sat this election out. They should have taken the high moral ground and said that as the vacancy had come about due to the sad and untimely death of Charles Bruzon, a GSLP Government minister, they would not contest it. They would have suffered some ridicule for doing so but it would have been the correct choice politically.

Instead Feetham allowed himself to be goaded in to putting forward a candidate probably not realizing that the strategy of the goaders was to make him do just that. So he has to fight the election on the GSD’s record, which like an old 78 is scratched and warped, and attack a government that is delivering on its manifesto.

In Marlene Nahon they have an able candidate or she would be if she wasn’t standing for the GSD. You cannot take to the social media and bear your political soul rubbishing the GSD in the process then do the opposite of what you proclaimed and end up as the GSD candidate. You are dead in the water before you start.

I see that Marlene describes herself as an avid horse rider. Perhaps that is why some political hacks dubbed her as a stalking horse candidate. If elected as an MP she could ride down Main Street and tying up her steed outside Parliament. She could even arrive as Lady Godiva wearing the GSD manifesto. The sight of Joe Holliday on a pushbike was stunning enough but nothing compared to Marlene and her trusty thoroughbred.

There are those who point to Marlene’s selection over Danny’s boys, who were also named as GSD candidates for selection, suggesting this demonstrated a snub or defeat for Feetham. I do not buy that argument: indeed on this I believe Feetham got it 100 per cent right.

Marlene Nahon will fight the GSD corner albeit with one if not two of her hands tied behind her back – an old circus pony rider’s trick. In the unlikelihood of her winning, Danny can point to his excellent choice of candidate. If she fails then his brother and his other standard bearers, who I believe were just on the list as window dressing, live to fight another political day unscathed. None of them wanted to be labelled the GSD candidate who failed.

Perhaps the plight of the GSD in this by-election is best demonstrated in the Facebook positing of Neil Costa. Neil is of course a Liberal Minister in this Government and wrote: “Curious. Only one central criticism on my 18 months on tourism and that related to what we inherited from the GSD! No comments from the Opposition on my Budget Address on the Port, the Gibraltar Maritime Administration or Commercial Affairs. Instead, the brunt of criticism against me was about my public statements against the then Government. We all felt in the twilight zone.”

In the twilight zone – and that is exactly where the GSD will exist until they have the courage to come to terms with their past and drive the stake through the previous government’s heart. You can’t attack the present government when all your efforts have to go to defending your own indefensible past.

By the by: I believe that Neil Costa has proved to be one of the unsung successes of this Government. In opposition he shadowed Yvette Del Agua. He demonstrated the GSD health service was on life support and the voters agreed with him and sacked Del Agua. His new portfolios are a very different kettle of fish. I met a tourism professional in London in the first months after Neil became minister. He had met Neil and I was taken aback by the praise heaped on him for his grasping of his portfolio and his intellect. Over a year on obviously the tourism head honcho was spot on.

FEETHAM DANCES THE HORNPIPE

Not so long ago we had Danny “Sex Bomb” Feetham on stage at Gibraltar’s  National Song Contest showing us his moves. In recent weeks he has morphed into Captain Danny “Long Johns” Feetham, once cabin boy to Admiral-in-Chief Caruana, and dancing the Hornpipe over the floating hotel issue.

 

First “Long Johns” shimmied and gave the impression that his party were against the floating hotel. Quick change of step when the Government reminded him that in office the GSD had recognised some value in a floating hotel. Indeed they had even held discussions to bring one here and that they actually did so for a particular sporting event.

 

Next “Long Johns” put his left leg in saying that his party welcomed the investment and but then shook it all about shifting the argument.

 

Then “Long Johns” sang out voicing his concern for existing hotels until it was pointed out that the GSD once announced plans for seven new hotels in Gibraltar and were still pressing for new ones.

 

“Long Johns” put his right foot in and complained that the floating hotel had gone to the Development and Planning Commission (DPC) as a done deal. He even suggested the vessel had left for Gibraltar before the DPC had even met.

 

“Long Johns” quickly pulled his right leg out when the GSD learned there was no done deal because the DPC meeting was two weeks before the vessel left.

 

Yet “Long Johns” had more moves - now like a demented Tom Jones he thrust his pelvis accusing the Government of only paying lip service to the planning process even though it was precisely the Government that ensured the vessel went to planning in public in the first place.  

 

“Long Johns” then waved his arms in the air and accused the Government of flouting environmental considerations. The Government waved back saying the planning application form for the project made it clear that an environmental statement was underway. Therefore far from paying lip service to the environment, such considerations are at the centre of Government thinking and an EIA is being produced.

 

At which point “Long Johns” and the GSD all fall down before getting up and starting all over again.

 

However Feetham is not a one dance hoofer. He has danced the Fandango over the number of operations cancelled due to bed shortages even though there were fewer than when the GSD took our pulses.

 

He has treated us to the Lindy Hop, also known as the Black Bottom, over the government’s appointment of the new GBC Board despite the fact it followed the same steps as the GSD. He kept on Hopping when it was pointed out that his former dance partner, the greatest Gibraltarian who has ever lived, had appointed members of his own family to the board.

 

He’s done the prancing Cakewalk over hospital waiting lists that are better than when Nurse Del Agua left the dance floor.

 

He’s given us the Farruca with its sudden tempo and mood changes because the Chief Minister met President Obama and he didn’t.

 

He has done the Twist when it has been pointed out to him he has sold Gibraltar short abroad.

 

Feetham has even managed to find dance steps to Beating the Retreat over the GSD’s Theatre Royal debacle and his party in government’s power station plans for Lathbury Barracks.

 

The GSD collectively did the Chicken Dance over whether to put forward a candidate for the by-election or not. Did the Single Swing because they daren’t let Caruana stand down and lose his seat. They even performed the Khon to persuade a member of the PDP to stand for selection as nobody in the GSD dared be caught standing when the music finished.

 

The GSD are now being schooled in the Bransle – a French follow the leader dance – that could take some time to learn. Feetham will be doing the Hula, with its hypnotic hip movements during the by-election so watch out for that one. Finally if the GSD come third, as many predict, then expect the Shag, which is a dance, which is a dance – where party members hop about enthusiastically to avoid getting the blame.

 

CARUANA GOT HIS AIRPORT PRIORITIES WRONG

Speaking to the GSD faithful last week the former Supreme Leader predicted the GSD could be back in power as soon as 2015. One perquisite for that to happen would be collective amnesia on the part of Gibraltarian voters over the expensive fiascos committed by consecutive governments led by Caruana.

One reminder that will not go away for a very long time is the Caruana Gin Palace building that now serves as the Gibraltar International Airport terminal. No doubt the auditors would have a field day if they were ever set to work wading through the contracts and payments associated with this edifice to one man’s vanity. It also demonstrates the former Supreme Leader’s inability to determine what was the priority for the airport and Gibraltar.

The priority wasn’t the airport terminal. I am not and never have been one of those who didn’t believe that Gibraltar needed a new terminal suited to the needs of today’s travellers and the airlines that fly them. What Gibraltar didn’t need was the budget busting Gin Palace that was placed by the border in order to honour sections of the Cordoba Agreement that Spain never complied with. A much simpler option could have been chosen and indeed there are numerous examples such as the Southend on Sea airport in Essex which was upgraded for the London Olympics at a fraction of the cost of the Gin Palace. The Southend option was pointed to on a number of occasions by the current Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, when he held the Opposition Tourism portfolio.

The priority at the airport was to take traffic under the runway either through the tunnel scheme that ended up as a giant ditch or some other such project. The chaos and delays that ensue every time an aircraft lands or takes off is one of the reasons for the border crossing misery.

It remains a priority to this day. The current government has spoken of opening up more border crossings to ease the congestion at the current Third World frontier. To achieve that we need to allow people and vehicles to be able to access the border without crossing the runway. I am not an engineer but getting people from A in Gibraltar to B in La Linea is the aim: let’s just hope we don’t have to demolish the Caruana Gin Palace to do it.

I stood today as the barriers came down. Crowds of tourists waited to cross the runway, Gibraltarians going about their business stood alongside them or sat in their cars with other cross border traffic as well as the buses, lorries and coaches. It was chaos and the summer hasn’t started yet. If Caruana had addressed and solved this issue whilst in Government he would have performed a notable service for Gibraltar. Instead we have the Gin Palace, which we can’t avoid as whilst we wait to cross it sits there staring us in the face. It will stare us in the face come election time in 2015 too and will be all the warning many people need not to vote GSD.

WHEN PARTIES DEBATE

The GSD, in the form of Isobel Ellul-Hammond, has raised its concerns that the Liberal Party may be allowed a separate voice in GBC debates such as on Parliamentary Reform. Her point being that as the Liberals are in coalition with the GSLP her party would in effect be having to debate with the government from two angles.

I see her point but it very much depends on how the debate is constituted. If GBC has asked a Government Minister and the GSD Shadow to debate an issue such as broadcasting then of course it should be on a one to one basis. However if the debate is amongst political parties then the Liberals are as entitled to their say as the GSD or the GSLP.

The fact that the GSLP and the Liberals have been in coalition in opposition and now government over a long period is neither here nor there. They are two independent parties, with their own organizations, leaders and members. They may have found a way over the years to work closely together but I suspect if you discussed politics with a member of the Liberal Party and a member of the GSLP, although they would have a joint centre left approach, they equally would have a very different take on any given issue.

Both parties are also very distinctive in the GSLP being a sister party of Labour whilst the Liberals are closely linked to both Liberal International and the Lib Dems.

If we take the UK as an example if there is a TV or radio debate on a key political issue it is not unusual to see a Conservative MP pitted against a Lib Dem MP with a Labour MP thrown in. The difference comes when the subject for debate is one of government and there the Minister will take part, who may be Conservative or Lib Dem, with a Labour Opposition spokesperson giving their party’s view.

So Isobel Ellul-Hammond would be right if GBC was creating a debate on a government issue. Then obviously only the minister should be involved, regardless of his or her party, and likewise the opposition spokesperson would speak for the GSD. However if the debate is between parties then our Liberals have as much right to be heard as the GSLP or GSD.

Indeed if it is a party debate then the PDP should also be included. They have earned the right to be heard for in two general elections they have fielded a full slate of candidates. The fact that none of them were elected is neither here nor there. People still voted for them.

If the PDP was included and as it sprang from the GSD then the two parties’ views on an issue could well be in alignment. So would it be fair for the GSLP and Liberals only to have one voice when those of the PDP and GSD were ranged against it in a party debate? I would say not.

These issues are far more complex than a sound bite but I can’t blame Isobel Ellul-Hammond for trying. Being a believer in democracy over all else I would defend any party’s right to be heard: that goes for the GSLP and the GSD; it certainly goes for the Liberals and yes the PDP too. The PDP may not have any MPs but they did win votes and the people who voted PDP have the right for their party’s views to be aired alongside those of the other elected parties in public debate.

PDP OBJECTIVE: HOUND CARUANA, WIN A SEAT

The decision of the former Supreme Leader to stand down as leader of the GSD and opposition comes as no surprise to anybody. If there is a surprise it is that he stayed on so long. On purely human terms if you have been chief minister for four consecutive terms, no mean achievement, why would you want to spend a fifth term leading the troops you led to defeat on the opposition benches. No it is better to be off and to spend more time with your family.

However that is not what has happened. The former Supreme Leader has stood down as party leader and leader of the opposition but will still draw his pay although it appears he intends to be just a token MP. It is a role that our constitution does not really allow for. Either you are elected to government and become a minister or you are on the opposition benches and are a shadow minister. Sitting around, popping in if you feel like it, taking your salary has not been previously on the agenda.

When the voters elect their MPs they expect them to serve. They serve either in government or in opposition. The role of an MP who just collects his dosh has not been envisaged by either Gibraltarians or the rules that govern our parliament.

Now it is unlikely the GSD will push Caruana out. It would mean a by-election that the party might not win. In all probability the GSD is still in awe of the former Supreme Leader so his former cabin boy Daniel Feetham would probably only shove if he wanted a replacement in his own image and likeness - like the brother.

The GSLP Liberal coalition is unlikely to press the point either. Having Caruana in parliament serves them well. It reminds the voters of who led the previous four administrations, it gives the GSD no chance to move on, Caruana is there when needed for when further chickens come home to roost and they can point to Caruana in opposition doing what he did in government – using the public’s money as if it was his own.

Hence it falls to the PDP to hound Caruana until he goes. It allows the unelected party to take the high moral ground and campaign on what an abuse to our parliamentary system the former Supreme Leader’s presence in elected chamber is. If the campaign is intense enough it may well result in his departure to his allotment in Sotogrande.

Once he is gone it leaves the PDP with the real first chance of winning a seat in parliament. In a straight fight with the GSD, and if they put up a candidate loved by the GSD diehards, they could find the reward is an MP. Then at the next election the centre right vote is up for grabs. This would certainly be the case if the GSLP Liberal coalition did not contest the seat.

The government already has its full slate of MPs but I am led to believe there is nothing to stop them adding an eleventh in a by-election. There are certainly those in both governing parties who would argue if there is an election they should contest it. However given that this election could lead to a fatal split in the GSD ranks by leaving its supporters free to back the PDP that might be the preferred option.

Of course this is all theory. It will only become fact if the PDP hounds Caruana out of his cosy seat and then mounts a strong challenge. It remains to be seen if the party, born of a rupture in centre right politics, can leave its comfort zone of just issuing wrist slapping press releases and join the political big boys (and girls). The signs so far are not encouraging.

HOUSING IS NOT A SAFE HOUSE FOR THE GSD

I have stated here before that the GSD opposition- not that they take any notice of me - should not pick fights with the government in areas that its record is bad; some may even say a disaster.

The GSD has to remember that for four terms it was the Gibraltar Government and that administration’s record is the one it has to stand on. From time to time the party harks back to the days of the last GSLP Government as if what happened pre-1996 is of relevance. Only one member of the present government was in office then albeit as chief minister. However what the GSD did between 1996 and 2011 is very relevant indeed as it impacts on the here and now.

It is all very well for the former Captain of the GSD ship to willing walk the plank but that has changed nothing. He has been replaced by his former cabin boy and the GSD still has to answer for its time in government.

The new captain, cabin boy Feetham, has to learn from the Labour Party in the UK who found itself in opposition after a similarly long period in government. Feetham was a member of New Labour in the 90s and for all I know may still be a party card holder. Under its new leader, Ed Miliband, Labour has been careful first to hold up its hand to its mistakes and then to criticize the coalition in areas where the government cannot immediately return fire on its own record.

This is a skill, amongst many, that Feetham still has to learn. The captain is dead, long live the captain’s cabin boy. He may have been just the cabin boy but he was still allowed to sit at the captain’s wardroom table and took part in the decision making.

So one area where the GSD needs to hold its fire is housing. Under the Caruana government there was no housing policy, a fact admitted by the former Supreme Leader after he squeezed home in the 2003 election. For Caruana and indeed Feetham the only housing they were interested in was in Sotogrande. The fact that many Gibraltarians were forced to live across the border in La Línea in cheap flats because there was no affordable housing here did not register on the good ship GSD’s radar.

Now of course if a person goes to the GSD with a concern or complaint over housing then the party should contact the minister concerned on their behalf. Who knows Charles Bruzon may even be minded to reply and solve the matter, which is in stark contrast to when he was the opposition spokesperson when he rarely received the courtesy of a reply let alone action from the GSD minister.

The GSD in government employed a scorched earth policy to housing before it left office in 2011. There was not one housing project under way, there was not one housing project ready to go. This meant that when the GSLP Liberals came to power no new housing could be delivered until they had been planned and built. To the government’s credit it has been able to still provide homes by refurbishing housing stock that had stood neglected, abandoned, just like the GSD’s housing policy.

So before the GSD attacks the government over only allocating 324 flats, having 950 new homes underway with more in the pipeline it has to answer, to the public’s satisfaction, a number of questions. First how does it explain its scorched earth housing policy? How does it explain that many of the new homes it did provide were sub-standard? How does it explain the debacles surrounding a number of disastrous development schemes that cost the Gibraltar tax payer – you – millions of pounds? And how did it skilfully turn hundreds on the waiting list to 1,400 in 2011? When the GSD fully tells us that then we can start the process of moving on!

WE’LL I NEVER SAW THAT COMING!

So Daniel Feetham is the new leader of the GSD. Hold me steady, I’m in shock, I never saw that coming!

The GSD election battle was the nearest you’ll see to a one horse race with two runners. The GSD executive chose the winner; just why the wider party was not consulted I know not, perhaps there isn’t one. However I guess the executive deciding it is a step up from the former Supreme Leader dictating matters. It is hardly democracy at work but then the wider electorate will have its chance to decide at the next general election whether Daniel Feetham is chief minister material or not.

The current chief minister is also leader of the GSLP, a party that Feetham once aspired to lead. Fabian Picardo is not known to be a drinker of substances alcoholic, may be the occasional glass of wine. Well on Monday night he could be excused a tincture or two in celebration of the election of Mr Feetham because without a doubt he was the candidate the majority of members of the GSLP favoured.

As Nick Cruz the leader of the PDP observed in my interview with him last week both Feetham and his challenger Bossino would split the GSD as was seemingly reflected in the executive vote. It sure is a rum show because as Cruz pointed out both Feetham and Bossino started out in politics in party’s opposing the GSD and now one of them is leading it. I suspect Bossino will keep his ambitions burning because there may yet be a vacancy sooner than he expects. Meanwhile all the true members of the GSD are over at the PDP and I wonder how long it will be till others join them.

Of course Daniel Feetham has been a party leader before with his ill-fated Labour Party. He ditched that, got in to political bed with the arch enemy of his family, and was even instrumental in giving birth to the PDP. And all he wanted to do was lead the GSLP - and be chief minister.

So the GSD executive, in its infinite wisdom, elected the socialist Daniel Feetham as its leader over the Liberal Damon Bossino. So will the next election manifesto be a centre right GSD one or a socialist one? You sell your political soul and make your choice.

I still believe Damon Bossino was closer to the true heart of the old GSD even with a Liberal twist. He is young, bright and had three years to learn the ropes of leadership a skill that Feetham is yet to master despite all his reincarnations.

The problem for the GSD is as the former Supreme Leader edges towards the exit door the black legacy of his administrations live on with Feetham. What the party needed was a new broom instead it has the former chief minister’s bag carrier.

There are still numerous skeletons rattling in the government cupboards on the GSD’s abuses whilst in power which still have to be let out. The former chief minister isn’t escaping them; they are clinging to his ankle like a prison ball and chain. His party had the chance on Monday night by electing Bossino to distance itself from the past. Instead they have chosen Feetham who was as close to the former supreme leader as you could get. It is a decision the GSD may yet live to regret.

BOSSINO VERSUS FEETHAM

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.