Dear Editor,
On November 16, 2015, while the People’s National Party (PNP) was considering an early election, I wrote a letter to the editor offering the prescription ‘How to commit political suicide’ to the PNP ‘brains trust’. It seemed determined then to seek a fresh mandate before the seeds sown by the Portia Simpson Miller Administration had borne fruit and while various scandals and intra-party disputes were still fresh.
Portia later said she would not call the election until she felt the “Master’s touch”.
Some wondered aloud whether it was really the touch of the pollsters she awaited. But that could hardly have been so as the best case scenario from Don Anderson — factoring in the margin of error of three percentage points — showed the PNP a mere one point ahead of the Jamaica Labour Party when she decided to “fly the gate”. In sprinting terms that’s merely the margin of a wet vest! Who in their right mind would call an election with 11 months left in their mandate and with such a tiny advantage?
So, who really touched Portia? Maybe it was her campaign director, Peter Phillips, whose serial blunders contributed mightily to the PNP’s defeat.
My own theory is that the touch was that of Vladimir Putin. For who else could have persuaded Portia to play Russian roulette with her party, her Government, and now her career?
Errol W A Townsend
Ontario, Canada
ewat@rogers.com
On November 16, 2015, while the People’s National Party (PNP) was considering an early election, I wrote a letter to the editor offering the prescription ‘How to commit political suicide’ to the PNP ‘brains trust’. It seemed determined then to seek a fresh mandate before the seeds sown by the Portia Simpson Miller Administration had borne fruit and while various scandals and intra-party disputes were still fresh.
Portia later said she would not call the election until she felt the “Master’s touch”.
Some wondered aloud whether it was really the touch of the pollsters she awaited. But that could hardly have been so as the best case scenario from Don Anderson — factoring in the margin of error of three percentage points — showed the PNP a mere one point ahead of the Jamaica Labour Party when she decided to “fly the gate”. In sprinting terms that’s merely the margin of a wet vest! Who in their right mind would call an election with 11 months left in their mandate and with such a tiny advantage?
So, who really touched Portia? Maybe it was her campaign director, Peter Phillips, whose serial blunders contributed mightily to the PNP’s defeat.
My own theory is that the touch was that of Vladimir Putin. For who else could have persuaded Portia to play Russian roulette with her party, her Government, and now her career?
Errol W A Townsend
Ontario, Canada
ewat@rogers.com