‘This is why I resigned’
Wednesday 2nd December 2009, 2:56PM GMT.
Celia Scott Warren
FORMER Assistant Health Minister Celia Scott Warren says that States Members have also been victims of Senator Stuart Syvret’s ‘bullying’.
The former Deputy, who lost her seat a year ago, resigned from the post of assistant minister at Health and Social Services under Senator Syvret in 2007.
She quit in protest against Senator Syvret’s sacking of the then head of the Jersey Child Protection Committee, Iris Le Feuvre. In a statement released to the JEP, Mrs Scott Warren said that she had been moved to speak out after Senator Jim Perchard’s comments about the Chapman report that found that Senator Syvret had bullied and harassed States staff.
Mrs Scott Warren wrote: ‘There have been many victims, mainly civil servants, but also some States Members, past and present, of abusive emails sent by Senator Syvret from 2007 onwards. In that year I was copied into emails that were of a totally unacceptable nature, so much so that I felt I had no alternative but to resign as Assistant Minister of Health.’
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Oh really?
This person has deamed themselves fit for election, fit for purpose and fit to be accountable. This is a person ‘We’ have elected to the given position……….. this person then decides, that part of the reason she has resigned, was because of being, and I quote: “In that year I was copied into emails that were of a totally unacceptable nature, so much so that I felt I had no alternative but to resign as Assistant Minister of Health”.
Oh come off it…. have more of a spine than that……. If that was the case, that e-mails copied to you were so unacceptable that you had to resign, then you were not fit for purpose. I don’t agree with Mr Syvret’s points of view, but the more I read from other ex-members and civil servant’s, the more I am starting to believe that the man may well have a valid point.
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Why are we putting up with this from Syvret, he is someone who shoud be disciplined and thrown out of the states, not paid 40k for causing upset and intimidation to alot of people that have done good. Can someone not take this on board and do something once and for all as I for one dont even want to read his name anywhere, what is going to be done I ask!!!!!!! Anyone who carried on like this in a place of work would be shown the door pretty quickly and to thnk he is representing Jersey (god forbid) we are probably a laughing stock by now
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I wonder how long it will take Stuart Syvret to lift this article for republication in his ‘blog?
Some may call it plagiarism; Syvret appears to think that JEP journalists work for him.
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Well surprise, surprise! But no doubt his half dozen supporters will have an explanation for this one as well as the scores of others. Syvret is going down faster than the Titanic at the moment.
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Having seen some of the emails sent by other States members I think this is laughable.
There are several other members who regularly send emails that would not go down well in any other place and there is a degree of animosity between some members that borders on hatred.
Members are not employed as such but paid as representatives. They can be ejected from the chamber for various reasons, none of which apply to Stuart Syvret, or they can resign which he is not likely to do.
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had to resign bcause of e mails oh come on get a life you are meant to be in politcs if you cant handle reading e mails then it is better that you have gone
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Celia is a lovely caring woman who recieved the hachet job on Syvrets blog – She does’nt of course mention that. She is a gem.
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Thats it! brainstorm!! if we get Stu to slag off all the States members so they resign, we can start again with a clean slate-sorted!!!
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JEP “She quit in protest against Senator Syvret’s sacking of the then head of the Jersey Child Protection Committee, Iris Le Feuvre.”
Why was she unhappy that Iris Le Feuvre was sacked by Senator Syvret? Indeed why Iris Le Feuvre sacked by Senator Syvret?
JEP “In that year I was copied into emails that were of a totally unacceptable nature, so much so that I felt I had no alternative but to resign as Assistant Minister of Health.”
So which is it then?
I find it interesting to see Jim Perchard croping up in all this. Wasn’t he the person who told Senator Syvret to go and do himself some personal harm, or words to that effect? Not that this seems to have bothered anyone as much as emails by Senator Syvret seem to have.
As far as I am concerned this is yet another feeble effort to have a go at Senator Syvret.
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Well, well why jump on the bandwagon now? Why did you stay quiet for so long if Senator Syvret’s behaviour was so awful you had to resign.
Ivor Biggin (1) I agree with you 100%.
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It’s no good calling for ‘wayward’ politicians to be thrown out, that’s not how our wonderful system works. We elect them for x number of years and they get on with it. We have to wait until the next election before we get our say.
It’s up to the politicians to police themselves and vote on removing one of their number if a majority can agree that rules have been transgressed or behaviour is sufficiently unreasonable.
Let them get on with their business. If you don’t like it, campaign to change the system – God knows it needs it
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Well Celia, that is just plain pitiful.if a few e mails freaked you out,how were you ever going to make it in the cut and thrust world of politics and if it were so hideous to your sensibilities ,why on earth did you seek re election,,,come off it,this is a feeble excuse, clearly you can’t cut it that’s all.
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Trust an ex-politician to be the first aboard the band-wagon. Presumably she fancies her chances in the next elections and is taking advantage of some free advance publicity. It doesn’t say much for her strength of character if her reasons for resigning last time around were that she was being sent nasty emails by Syvret. Politicians are supposed to have thicker skin than that otherwise they really can’t do their job effectively.
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When are we going to ged rid of all these so called politicians.The amount of daily bulls….t this Island and its people have to put up with is crazy.Im not a Jerseyman but have been here for about ten years.In London or Manchester these people would’nt last a week,having to deal with real issues.Why are there so many of them,what the hell do they manage to do all day fo £40000 a year,while other people have to do two jobs to make ends meet.Its SO SO wrong.Dont these people realize that no one cares about all these,senators,ministers,constables and any other titles they are called,but we do care about the cash thats wasted on them.SS said this and she said that and they said this so on and so on.sack em all!!
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I do not think that this pettiness is potraying our government in a good light.
Celia Scott-Warren and Senator Perchard are acting like kids in a school playgroud. Name calling is so childish…these politicians need to grow up. No wonder people have lost interest in politics.
Jersey, along with the rest of the world have serious problems to address…economic, evironmental and social…let’s try and regain some sort of perspective here. Please grow up and start acting responsibly.
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Adrian # 9. You said, ” I find it interesting to see Jim Perchard croping up in all this. Wasn’t he the person who told Senator Syvret to go and do himself some personal harm, or words to that effect? Not that this seems to have bothered anyone as much as e-mails by Senator Syvret seem to have.
I am not particulalrly a fan of Mr. Perchard, but at least he had the balls to get in Mr. Syvret’s face, instead of making insiduous, malicious and mostly uncorroborated claims on his blog.
Yes it would have been better for Mrs. Scott-Warren to have spoken out at the time; however whatever the reasons are for the delay in reporting these facts, her comments should not be ignored. It all adds fuel to the fire and backs up the theory that Mr. Syvret is a mouthy bully.
Is this chain of comments going to pick up where the previous feature on bullying, left off?
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Even if content of the email was less than expected from a States member the simple fact is Celia resigned because of Iris Le Feuvre’s dismissal.I also agree that she should not have entered politics if she was not prepared to handle the presuure of the job.
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Im no fan of Syvret, and believe he should just resign. However, there have been worse offences. Old Terry told off for pubishing the rent paid by a States tenant for example. But of course he is establishment and as such becomes Teflon Tel!
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The Syvret defenders seem to think that people should expect a bit of “cut and thrust” when they enter into politics. Maybe, if you are a career politician in the UK. But I think the majority of Jersey politicans – certainly those who are called “the establishment” – stand for the States because they wish to make the Island better. Not for the money, no for the power, not for the right to insult others. Just because they want to help.
And it is those ordinary, decent people who are being driven away from politics. Nobody benefts from their loss.
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‘Some may call it plagiarism; Syvret appears to think that JEP journalists work for him. ‘
Nice try at mudslinging Albert but you missed by a mile. Look up the word plagiarism in the dictionary.
If the story is lifted and put on his blog how exactly could he try to pass it off as his own work! Read the article again and explain.
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“I think the majority of Jersey politicans – certainly those who are called “the establishment” – stand for the States because they wish to make the Island better. Not for the money, no for the power. Just because they want to help.”
I nearly choked on my coffee reading that. Very, very funny. The best yet MF, well done.
Perhaps, if their only motivation is to ‘make the island better’ and to ‘help others’, those altruistic, philanthropic politicians who happen to have a few million in the bank would like to forego their salary to help with keeping States expenditure down.
Thought not.
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Mad Foetus # 19 How right you are. Once up on a time we used to have politicians in the Island that wanted to provide a service to the public; that’s when it was an honorary post. Of course that meant the less well off were disinclined to stand for election.
There may be a few nowadays who are well intentioned, Bob Hill and Mike Higgins amongst them. The majority are egotistical wind bags who get in because nobody of any real substance will stand against them.
Stuart Syvret had the potential to be a good politician, but he became infatuated by his own verbosity and egotistical imagination. He has let himself and the Island down.
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Don,
Why do you think the likes of Terry Le Sueur do it? He doesn’t need the money and anyone who has ever met him will confirm he has no lust for power. He does it because he loves Jersey and wants to serve Jersey as best he can.
Now, you can argue about whether what he thinks is “serving Jersey” is correct. That is totally valid criticism. I happen to pretty much despise Gordon Brown, but deep down, I don’t doubt that he believes he is doing things for the best.
There are, however, a number of Jersey politicians who I harbour suspicions about. I simply feel that if somebody earns more as a States member than they could ever hope to earn outside the States the chances are they are not “management material”. And also, I suspect that getting re-elected takes on more importance that doing things that are in Jersey’s long term interests.
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Like you MF I there are a number of Jersey politicians who I harbour suspicions about. Some of your establishment favorites are included in my list.
I simply feel that it is disingenuous to assert that the majority of Jersey politicans “certainly those who are called “the establishment” ” ONLY do the job for altuistic reasons. They do not.
They may not need the money, and some of them clearly don’t, but they don’t have to take it. Give it to charity, put it back into the coffers, whatever. If they have no need for it and are the philanthropists you beleive they are they could do the job for free.
There is more than one reason why they do the job. Kudos, ego, power, contacts, free parking perhaps who knows. You are kidding yourself if you think any of them ONLY do it for the good of the island and nothing else.
Some of the ‘establishment’ group would aslo not be management material either!
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Come on Mad foetus ,you surely don’t believe all that,the place is a mess,lies,deceit, counter lies,the politicians are so inept they have let the civil servants take power,and if they are to govern properly will have to take it back…and anytime soon would be the right time…just look at the insane spending unblinkered..please, I enjoy your posts and am not having a go…but our quality of life here is hurtling hellward.
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I think it is wise to accept the fact that politics everywhere has its fair share of egotistical windbags.
Back in the days when it was unpaid there were a good few in there that loved the sound of their own voices to the exclusion of all else.
The scope for windbaggery has increased as the scope of the States have grown bigger, Jersey in the sixties did not spend or employ a fraction of the staff it does today.
Thre are a good few in there that are good old boys, they are not much interested in the debates, and one of their most common criticisms of the younger members like Phillip Ozouf is that they are political!
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“the politicians are so inept they have let the civil servants take power”
As someone who worked at a senior level with Ministers until relatively recently, can I ask what you actually mean.
The politicians set policy, civil servants implement it. In setting policy, the politicians will ask civil servants to research matters and take responsibility for drafting documents, including laws and regulations.
That is what happens in democracies. Have you a different idea on how it should work.
Pip – you are 100% right re windbags. No speech made in the States chamber needs to last more than 10 minutes. With enough prep, anyone can be brief.
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Is the island a worse place for losing this lady from the states? She hardly set the world on fire when she was in there!
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“mad foetus
Posted December 7, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Why do you think the likes of Terry Le Sueur do it? He doesn’t need the money and anyone who has ever met him will confirm he has no lust for power. He does it because he loves Jersey and wants to serve Jersey as best he can. ”
Thank you for brightening up this wet and gloomy day with a little humour. One only need look at Terry Le Sueur’s record of lack of public empathy to understand why I am having to pause between typing these words to stifle the laughter.
As Chief Minister he’s shown himself so adept at disappearing with a “no comment” or “the matter is now closed” thrown over his shoulder that I’d almost forgotten he existed until I saw you mention his name.
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Why do people go into politics? A very valid question. As far as I am concerned most will be in it for their own benefit as this is human nature unfortunately.
I see politics like a game of chess. The aim is to get your ideas into public acceptance so as to minimise the cost to the group you belong to. Therefore the aim is to pass as many costs as possible onto those who are unable to represent themselves, or who have limited representation in government. This is why big business and the super rich get what they want more times than not. This is also why the rest have to shoulder an unfair burden of the costs of running society as far as I am concerned.
In a better world things would be spread out much more fairly but then some wouldn’t be happy with less would they? So we have to put up with a world where things are getting worse for the majority just so those at the top of the pile don’t get put out.
Unfortunately the world can’t afford to carry on with this capitalistic system as it is unsustainable. Mark my words it is only a matter of time before things collapse completely, then of what use will be money, traded options and the latest financial fads?
The Weimar Republic will soon be looked upon with fondness if things collapse as completely as I think they soon will.
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‘The politicians set policy, civil servants implement it. In setting policy, the politicians will ask civil servants to research matters and take responsibility for drafting documents, including laws and regulations.’
That is how it should work but the Jersey system is broken in two ways.
We have no party structures so the States chamber is a room filled with individuals each with their own ideas and little in the way of resources to formulate policy.
Plus the CoM is weak with little coordination between members.
This creates a policy vacuum into which someone must step.
And that is the Civil Service.
Anyone who is familiar with Yes Minister and has even a nodding acquaintance with UK goverment will know that Civil Servants that have worked in the same department for years exert a powerful influence over ministers that are never there for more than a few years.
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27.You mean you don’t know what Ogley does or how……you must have slept your way to retirement.
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Pip Clement # 31. You mentioned ‘Yes Minister’ – aren’t you getting confised with ‘Monty Python’, or in the case of one or two of our politicians, ‘Some mothers do have ‘em’?
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I have huge respect for Mrs.Scott-Warren but “if you can’t stand the heat ……”.If she believed that bullying was taking place in Health and Social services then she should have stayed and addressed the issue,not buckled under.Jersey needs female politicians who can gain respect from their values and not play the ” weak femme fatale ” card.What a disappointment her statement is.
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