Estwick backs Thorne

Outspoken former Cabinet minister Dr David Estwick has thrown his full support behind Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne’s bid to rejoin the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

Thorne, the Member of Parliament for Christ Church South, submitted his application for membership at the DLP’s George Street headquarters on Friday after cutting ties with the Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) last week and crossing the floor of Parliament to become the lone opposition voice in the Lower Chamber.

Thorne, a senior legal counsel, attributed his decision to resign from the BLP to what he suggested was an untenable relationship triggered by the constant variance between his philosophical and political views on legislation and policy, and those of the Mottley administration.

In one of his rare public comments since his party’s 18 to nil decimation by the BLP at the 2018 polls, Dr Estwick, a former Minister of Agriculture in the Freundel Stuart Cabinet, said on Saturday he welcomed Thorne back into the DLP and urged the executive council — which was meeting today — to approve his application for membership.

“There comes a time in the life of every politician when they must come to grips with, in practical and tangible terms, the reasons he or she is in politics. When that introspection is done, and that politician thinks that the actions of the political party he is with are no longer congruent with the reasons he or she entered politics, then it is natural for that politician to leave that political party,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“I have known Ralph from the early ‘90s, and I think that he believes strongly in the fundamental pillars of democracy: the separation of powers expressed in the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The rights of Barbadians to their constitutional rights of freedom of speech excluding slander, libel and sedition, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, association and of the press,” Estwick said.

Estwick, known for his flamboyant and assertive public speeches, also sought to make a case for Thorne’s position on government’s responsibility to put the masses first.

“Also, I think that he believes strongly in the sovereign right of the government of Barbados to act in the interest of the people of Barbados and not be a puppet for any international agenda that trades sovereignty and well-being for money,” he declared.

Estwick also expressed zero doubt about Thorne’s contention that Government had lost its focus in maintaining the principles of good governance.

“His statements are quite clear that he does not think that the present government has maintained their focus on these fundamental tenets of good governance and democratic practice … and it is also quite clear that he had become fully aware of the dangers of unbridled neoliberalism in small developing states with no practical comparative or competitive advantage and true competition policy,” Estwick reasoned.

He noted that “these fundamental democratic socialist pillars” are enshrined in the DLP’s Constitution.

“Therefore, I welcome Mr Thorne back to the DLP, and I hope that common sense and reason prevails, and the executive and general councils of the party accept his application for membership to the DLP therefore acting in the interest of the people of Barbados and the party,” Estwick concluded. 

(EJ)