Bunting to get key PNP role - Other Rise United members to be elevated to mend torn party
Published:Sunday | June 21, 2020 | 12:00 AMLivern Barrett - Senior Staff Reporter
Amid signs that last year’s bitter presidential challenge remains a divisive issue, embattled People’s National Party (PNP) President Dr Peter Phillips has agreed to hand over a key position to rival Peter Bunting, PNP insiders have revealed.
As early as Tuesday, Bunting, the Central Manchester Member of Parliament (MP), is expected to take over as leader of Opposition business in the House of Representatives, insiders told The Sunday Gleaner.
He will replace Dr Morais Guy, the Central St Mary MP and a Phillips backer who has been in the post for just eight months.
Additionally, Bunting has reportedly been appointed to work alongside Phillip Paulwell as the PNP’s co-campaign director.
“There is an agreement in place and Bunting is going to play a de facto leadership role in the party,” said one source of the attempts by the PNP to present a united front to supporters and the wider public.
“What has been accepted is that there is no way to bring the 49 per cent of the party into the mainstream without specifically addressing the role of Bunting,” the source added, referring to the delegate support the Central Manchester MP garnered in the PNP presidential election last September.
Further, Phillips has reportedly agreed to more “heightened” roles for “every single one” of the Opposition MPs who endorsed Bunting’s Rise United campaign, which failed by a slim margin to unseat the PNP leader last September.
Most notably, according to one insider, Dr Dayton Campbell, the firebrand North West St Ann MP who managed Bunting’s campaign, has been added to the PNP’s national campaign committee and given direct responsibility for at least one other St Ann constituency.
Additionally, the party leadership is reportedly taking steps to shut down PNP member Peter Shand’s plans to run as an independent candidate in Campbell’s constituency, a move that would threaten his already slim majority.
“They are going to read him the riot act and warn him of possible expulsion,” said one source referring to Shand.
Mark Golding, MP for South St Andrew and a key Bunting ally, has been added to the party’s manifesto committee to help refine the document.
The eleventh-hour moves were hammered out during talks brokered by influential PNP figures between representatives for Phillips and Bunting, according to one insider. They were reportedly ‘ratified’ by both men during a meeting last Thursday and are expected to be made public this week.
FOUND ITS VOICE
“We have to communicate to the entire PNP and to the public a party that has found its voice and has come together as a fighting force to face the electorate in the interest of the Jamaican people,” another insider said.
Bunting and PNP General Secretary Julian Robinson both declined to comment for this story.
With general elections constitutionally due by next March, there are fears that the 81-year-old political organisation remains split between Phillips’ supporters and so-called ‘Risers’ who supported Bunting’s bid to unseat the PNP president.
Two weeks ago, a majority of Opposition MPs – 15 of the 29 – fired off a letter to Phillips requesting a meeting to discuss concerns about the party’s preparedness for the pending elections.
The party was on the brink of full-blown chaos after reports surfaced that the 15, most of whom had supported Bunting’s campaign, planned to approach Governor General Sir Patrick Allen to indicate that they had lost confidence in Phillips.
Since then, however, Phillips has acceded to the request and sat down last Thursday with 13 of the 15 MPs for what has been described as “a very candid meeting” which underscored issues of trust, poor internal communication and the marginalisation of those who supported Bunting.
“The feeling was that one set won in September and that it was a winner take all and that was what was savaging the party,” another source posited, making reference to the internal presidential contest.
“They have now structured the roles so it is no longer a token from this side or that side. It is the best talent put to the best use; that’s what was negotiated.”
Dr Fenton Ferguson, the Eastern St Thomas MP and another Bunting backer, has reportedly been asked to assist the leadership of the PNP’s region two and is being considered for a national leadership role for the local government election, which is due later this year.
Another Bunting supporter, South West St Andrew MP, Angela Brown Burke, will work with PNP vice president Damion Crawford to boost the party’s chances in three critical constituencies in region three. In addition, she has reportedly consented to serve as deputy leader of the national local government election campaign.