In Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado we see the comedic and haughty character of Pooh-Bah first appear. Some readers may recall that during the classic comic opera Pooh-Bah holds numerous exalted offices including 'First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral ... Archbishop ... Lord Mayor' and 'Lord High Everything Else' setting in stone satirical references to any and all self-important overseers of people in the hundred years since.
So now the election is over we thought we'd do one last piece on the upcoming quest to appoint the Island's next Grand Poo-Bah. Its a bit like Love Island really where we're looking to find largely hopeless matches with what the Great Manx Public might want to see by way of its leader for the next five years (not that any of us still have a direct say in anything its important to note).
If we were an illegal betting site we might be tempted to take odds and ask for public bets on the outcome. But we're not and so we're just going to offer our view on the general process and timescales of what happens next - and our thoughts on what we believe the ultimate consensus in Tynwald might be.
The time table
To put the process into context elected members now have two weeks after they are sworn in to consider who to back for Chief Minister. This is an extra seven days compared to previous elections - via an extension which was brought in my the previous administration.
Nominations will be put forward at a sitting on 12 October after which a vote will take place and once a successor is chosen this officially marks the end of Howard Quayle's term of office. Another change in election procedures brought in during the last administration means that the Legislative Council, Tynwald's (unelected) upper branch, now has no involvement in choosing the next Chief Minister. So in theory its now up all of us to make our voices heard (via our elected MHKs) regarding who they as Tynwald members should give their backing to.
The main options as we see them are:
The main runners
Alfred Cannan
Stand by your beds! He topped the Poll in Ayre and Michael and has been touted as our next Chief Minister since before Howard Quayle even intimated that he wouldn't be standing again. His Manx Radio two-minutes to tell us clip is linked below as he's done minimal public interviews throughout the campaign trail. As we asked at the time - will he get back in as MHK? Which we suggested was likely to be a resounding yes from the people of Ayre and Michael (which is exactly what happened). We then asked will he then declare that he will also be putting himself forward as Chief Minister? Again likely a resounding yes from most people you talk to on the government grapevine. As one of the few people who has come out of the IOM pandemic response with any real credibility so far, and as someone who got an overwhelming majority in their constituency, it seems that Alfred Louis Cannan MHK will be at the top of any list to be Chief Minister this time round.
Dr Alex Allinson
General opinion seems to have shifted here quite a bit as he ultimately lost over 1,000 Ramsey votes compared to 2016 but as we said at the time of the below clip - in the interviews with Dr Allinson what we are seeing is the inevitable end result of years of well practised bedside manner as a GP as he possesses an ability to authoritatively and confidently bat away most inconvenient or uncomfortable questions without actually making it that obvious that he is batting away inconvenient or uncomfortable questions. So we'd suggest that Dr Allinson is a credible candidate for Chief Minister purely on that basis as he clearly understands politics and the need to garner public confidence. However the elephant in the room for Dr Allinson (and some other possible candidates that we list below) is that he's not Manx born - and this has been a traditional stumbling block for succession to the role of the Manx Grand Poo-Bah for generations and we haven't seen much willingness on behalf of Tynwald to break with tradition so far.
Chris Thomas
We've always said that Mr Thomas is a very credible candidate as both MHK and as Chief Minister. Yet equally he himself has previously intimated that people who don't top their respective constituency polls don't necessarily carry a clear public mandate for the role of Grand Poo-Bah. We've already covered the historic barriers to non Manx candidates shooting for the top job - but ignoring this we'd suggest that Mr Thomas' main Achillies Heel is likely that he can always give a competent and technical explanation on most matters. So there are quite a few places where he could add substantial value to the Island in addition to the role of Grand Poo-Bah as by default he could be very effective in any number of Ministerial roles. With his detailed policy declarations so far its also clear that Mr Thomas is trying to set the general tone and agenda of the next five years whether he gets the top job or not - and that's commendable as it seeks to provide a clear role for himself as a thought leader in the next administration regardless. We'd suggest that if others in the house invite him to step forward as a candidate then he didn't really put his name forward himself - so it doesn't really matter whether he actually topped the poll or not and he should probably just accept the invite if offered.
Jane Poole-Wilson
First female Chief Minister and without any former publicly elected role in Keys too would be a phenomenal precedent to set in a post-covid world seeking a mandate for clear change from the past. As we have said previously Mrs Poole-Wilson is clearly a very credible candidate for MHK having already spent several years as an MLC and therefore possessing a real knowledge and understanding of how Tynwald works as a first time MHK unlike most other newbies. Because of this there are a lot of people rooting for her as Grand Poo-Bah which we fully endorse. But equally we ask was the incredible rotten borough that was Middle simply too much of an opportunity to miss for the Manx establishment to parachute an easy vote winner for both MHK and Chief Minister into? Readers should probably make up their own minds on that. But Mrs Poole-Wilson is a very credible candidate though nonetheless.
Juan Watterson
If we were an obscure African colony Mr Watterson would do it just for the big hat and the gold epaulettes (see below) as he just can't seem to keep his mitts out of the dressing up box. As we said at the time of the presidential hustings though - in Mr Watterson never has the Island seen a sitting MHK spend so much time lobbying to not have to go back and face a public vote in favour of setting up his stall for the Tynwald Presidents role. But he tried and he failed there and as a result he put his tail between his legs and got back on his bike and got re-elected as Rushen MHK instead. The result of that public mandate is that he might now conceivably be considered for the role of Grand Poo-Bah. He's Manx, and he likes dressing up, and he loves foreign travel. What other qualifications does anyone need?
The Wildcards
Kate Lord-Brennan
She fought a great campaign as an MLC seeking the public vote. Some are now touting her name in the race for the Grand Poo-Bah too. But if there's lady who is going to take that title its probably Jane Poole-Wilson much as we might like and support Ms Lord-Brennan and her aspiration to be a real catalyst for change.
Daphne Caine
Daphne Hilary Penelope Pitstop Caine is also liked by many seeking change. She has proven herself as a very credible MHK in the last five years. She may well also be in the mix for Grand Poo-Bah which is something that the public would likely endorse.
Pictured: Another Grand Poo-Bah.
