POLITICIANS will be forced to lie to each other, to the public, and to the media under the doctrine of collective responsibility, according to Senator Stuart Syvret.

In a letter published today on page 10, the Health and Social Services president writes that that he would join the council of ministers only if the doctrine did not apply.The letter was written in response to a JEP article which said that Senator Syvret was unlikely to join the executive, once the changeover to ministerial government had taken place.

The Senator has been a critic of some of the political reforms, and lodged an unsuccessful amendment that would have seen collective responsibility – which means that dissenting ministers will have to support policies backed by more than half the executive – removed from the system.’I would, in fact, consider joining the cabinet as long as membership of it did not in any way require or oblige its members to lie; not to lie to the public, not to lie to journalists and not to lie to fellow politicians,’ he wrote.’This means quite simply if, as a cabinet member, I am asked by a member of the public, or a journalist or a Scrutiny Committee whether I really agree with policy x or y, or whether I feel issue a or b has been handled correctly, I would expect to be at liberty to answer truthfully.

It is difficult to see how any politician of integrity could operate upon any other basis given that the Oath of Office we swear in the Royal Court requires us to fulfil our duties, which we must promise to do on our conscience.’