Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne on Monday laid bare a personal struggle between “blind obedience and principled objection” as he remained on the government benches opposed to several issues including proposed education reform.
After being sworn in by President Dame Sandra Mason to officially take over a position that had been vacant since the Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) won a second consecutive 30-0 at the polls in 2022, the Christ Church South MP said he could not go on indefinitely trying to be diplomatic and protect the interest of the government against principle.
“You know that diplomacy often leads to hypocrisy,” the senior counsel told reporters after taking the oath at State House.
“You’re trying to be diplomatic but then you’re sounding like a hypocrite. Your conscience must mean something and, therefore, I came to a point where I had to make a decision that if my philosophical and political views do not accord with those of the government in terms of legislation, in terms of its policy, the relationship becomes untenable. This is not about any personality conflict. Personality conflicts really are like a soap opera and my politics are not the politics of a soap opera. I am more concerned with the horror story that has become life in Barbados.
“This society and this economy are in crisis, and I could not stand in a parliament from week to week and defend the indefensible. I could not stand in the parliament week after week and try to be diplomatic. I could not stand in the parliament every week and begin to sound like a hypocrite. I am not a hypocrite…. The upbringing that I have had as a child tells me that I should adhere to the truth, even when it hurts. I know that the truth hurts the cause of the government, but there’s a time when a man must do what a man must . . . and I did what I had to do.”
The former government MP also expressed deep reservations about various administration policies, shedding light on specific instances during last year’s budget debate that fuelled his dissent.
Thorne said: “My speech, I think, – this is not to be immodest – stood out for its deep criticism of the government, in terms of sending home some of the most vulnerable people in Barbados. When those people received those jobs, I praised the government, but here was the government sacrificing the interests of the most vulnerable and here was the government enfranchising a large cadre of Barbadians called consultants who live well, who eat well, who sleep well, and we were condemning the poorest and the most vulnerable people into greater adversity.
“There was the other question of subjecting our children to a survey which amounted to an egregious invasion of their privacy. That was wrong, that was legally and constitutionally and morally wrong. It should not have happened,” he added, referring to the controversial IDB survey which was administered to ten- and 11-year-olds at select secondary schools in 2022, quizzing first-formers on their sexuality, gender identity, substance use and abuse as well as personal information about their parents.
Thorne also made clear his opposition to the planned education reform, indicating that had he been on the government benches and the proposal went before parliament, he would have taken a stand by physically crossing the floor.
“I would have physically got up from my seat and walked to the other side to express my objection to the dismantling of an education system which has brought democracy and justice to this country. I am opposed to it, I remain opposed to it, and I will speak at length on it, if and when it comes,” he declared.
“I have the freedom of the opposition bench to represent the voice of all of those people in this country who have benefitted from that system and all of our children who stand to benefit from a continuation of a system that needs reform – it needs curriculum reform, I do not believe it needs structural reform.”
Thorne also raised concerns about the government’s legislative agenda, suggesting that people’s objections were not solely based on content but rather on the perceived loss of interest in the welfare of the citizens.
He told reporters: “Ä lot of the legislation that is coming before the parliament, a lot of it, you will find these days that people are objecting to it and sometimes people are not objecting to it necessarily for its content, because the entire content of legislation cannot be without virtue. There are some portions of it that are virtuous . . . but I want to say to the government that the reason that people are objecting so violently – when I say violently I don’t mean physically – is that the government has lost interest in people. That is why you find the objection.”
“People are instinctively opposing the government in the public domain in terms of the legislation that it is bringing to Parliament from week to week, including [Tuesday].”
When Thorne attends the next sitting of the House of Assembly on Tuesday, despite his new seating arrangement and job title, he made it clear that he would be objective.
“Hopefully, you will hear me [Tuesday]. And when you hear me in parliament, I want to assure you that you will hear objectivity. You’re not going to hear personal attacks because I believe that the time has come when politics in this country must elevate itself beyond personal attacks,” he said.
On Friday night, news broke of Thorne having an audience with President Dame Sandra, informing her of his intention to sit independently of the government. After staying mum through the weekend while speculation mounted over the reason for his defection, Thorne told reporters after his swearing-in that “while that process was ongoing, I considered that it would have been improper and inappropriate for me to have brought it into the public domain and to expose it to rancorous public debate”.
(RG)
