PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
7
this opportunity to praise the steady contribution made by
Mr Bain, the Financial Secretary.
Touch wood, I do not see
the BVI having to revert to grant in aid for their recurrent
expenditure.
THE POLITICAL SCENE
12. BVI politics are based almost totally upon who can stand
whom as a colleague. No dogma: mainly who you can drink and
do business with. But the general ethic is right-wing and local
and, in business, the tradition of the buccaneer lives on.
(Thus Ministerial rascality is seen in the round.) The Governor's
function is to keep things reasonably on the rails. He is also
Umpire between politicians (some difficult; others reasonable;
all interesting) and is Ombudsman to the community. Provided there
is no hurricane or homicide, the 1983 election is probably the
next foreseeable headache. The incumbents may seek to rig it
or else rig the Governor. This is exactly what happened in 1979.
After 8 years in office, it was clear to me that the incumbent
Chief Minister, Willard Wheatley, had totally lost support. He
offered more than one interesting formula and, although
completely beaten, refused to resign. Evenutally, after a long day of discussion, and the rumshops beginning to fill dangerously, I had to tell Wheatley that the alternatives were revocation of
his appointment = dismissal - which I did not want or an
exchange of gushful letters covering his surrender of office
after long service. At the last minute came surrender:
came his complaint to the Secretary of State: another episode in
the rag bag of recall.
next day
13. The attitude of British Virgin Islands Ministers towards the
United Kingdom is ambivalent.
connection, at least for a while
They wish to maintain the British
-
because that is what the older
/voters