Frank Walker (Jersey politician)

Infobox Prime Minister
name = Frank Harrison Walker

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imagesize = 200px
caption =
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order = 1^st
office = Chief Minister of Jersey
term_start = December 2005
term_end =
predecessor = "Office created"
successor =
constituency =
office2 = Senator in the States of Jersey
term_start2 = December 1996
term_end2 =
predecessor2 =
successor2 =
constituency2 =
majority2 =
office3 = Deputy in the States of Jersey
term_start3 = December 1990
term_end3 = December 1996
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
constituency3 =
majority3 =
birth_date =
birth_place = Guernsey
death_date =
death_place =
party =
relations =
spouse = Fiona Walker (formerly Spurr)
civil partner =
children =
residence = St Brelade [ [http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/show_details.asp?id_number=115 Untitled ] ] , Jersey
occupation =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Frank Harrison Walker is the first and current Chief Minister of Jersey, elected in 2005 by fellow States members.

Biography

In 1973 Walker became managing director of the Jersey Evening Post (the island's only newspaper). He later took over chairmanship of the Guiton Group, owners of both the Jersey Evening Post and Guernsey Evening Press. This led to public concern regarding a possible conflict of interests when he became Chief Minister, and, despite originally intending to keep both positions [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/news/2003/01/27/frank_walker.shtml BBC - Jersey - News - Senator Frank Walker to stay as chairman of Guiton ] ] , he later stepped down from that position in February 2005. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/4258031.stm BBC NEWS | Europe | Jersey | Newspaper chairman standing down ] ]

Electoral history

Walker was first elected to the States of Jersey on December 13 1990 as Deputy of St Helier No 3 and was re-elected in 1993; he was then elected as Senator in 1996 and re-elected on December 12 2002, coming 6th out of 6. [ [http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/show_details.asp?id_number=115 Information from States of Jersey] ] After his most recent election win Walker promised this would be his final term in ministerial government. [Jersey Evening Post, April 2007]

Election as Chief Minister

Walker was elected Chief Minister in 2005 by a secret ballot of States members. He achieved 38 votes, Senator Stuart Syvret received 14 and there was one spoilt paper. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/4497156.stm BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Jersey | Walker is Jersey chief minister ] ] His first responsibility was to propose the nine members who would form his Council of Ministers [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/4501220.stm BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Jersey | Walker names his nine ministers ] ] : these were all elected unopposed except Senator Len Norman who was defeated by Deputy Guy de Faye.

As part of his election promises held for the position of Chief Minister, at the public hustings both candidates gave a clear and unequivocal undertaking to work together for the first three years. Syvret had significant support amongst the population and the issue of whom should be Chief Minister was one of the most divisive of the 2005 election.

In August 2007 however, a private discussion between Syvret and the Council of Ministers was made public by former St Lawrence Constable Iris Le Feuvre in her position as chair of the Child Protection committee. This led to a perceived lowering of confidence in the quality of child protection services; something which Walker subsequently attributed to Syvret. [Jersey Evening Post, August 21 2007] Walker called for a vote of no confidence in Syvret.

Domestic affairs

Tax Justice Network

A major opponent for Walker, in recent times, has been the Tax Justice Network. On BBC Radio Jersey talkback, he initially offered to take part in an open debate on the future of Jersey's finance industry [ [http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2006/11/27/murphy-v-walker-coming-to-a-venue-in-jersey/ Tax Research UK / Murphy v Walker - coming to a venue in Jersey ] ] ; however the debate never took place. Having submitted a detailed analysis of why Jersey was not a tax haven to the US Senate hearing in May 2007, the Tax Justice Network responded with a submission of their own in June 2007 which re-ignited the confrontation. [ [http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2007/07/02/senator-walker-responds/ Tax Research UK / Senator Walker responds ] ] . More recently, on 27 April, Walker refused to appear on the Talkback programme with John Christensen of the TJN. He ended up appearing on his own, but Mr Christensen was given a chance to answer the following week.

Jersey logo

Despite a negative public reaction to a previewed version, Frank Walker introduced a new Jersey 'brand', costing £250,000, which in turn also drew widespread criticism. Some people suggested the brand logo looked more like a 'flying banana' [ [http://www.progressjersey.com/politics/comment.php?comment.news.39 australia bangkok barcelona canada dubai at progressjersey.com ] ] .

One of the major complaints of this rebranding was that local design companies were deliberately ignored, Walker considering them not to be up to the job of creating a professional enough design. When a number of these companies banded together to put on a display of designs they had created free of charge, Walker both declined to reconsider his decision to use the disliked UK design, and refused to apologise for comments made regarding the experience of the local designers.

Volume of legislation

Following a written question in the UK House of Commons by Conservative MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell, it emerged that Jersey had enacted more legislation than either Guernsey or the Isle of Man. [ [http://www.thisisguernsey.com/code/showarchive.pl?ArticleID=002415&year=2007&category=news This is Guernsey - Archive ] ] . Walker denied that this was evidence of over-regulation, arguing that "the number of laws reflects the fundamental changes that have taken place in Jersey’s government".

International relations

Constitutional position of Jersey

Walker successfully developed a framework for future relations with the United Kingdom [ [http://www.jerseyfinance.je/content/2067/index.html Welcome to Jersey Finance Online - Jersey and UK agree framework for developing Jersey’s international identity ] ] .

Netherlands tax treaty

Jersey committed to cooperation and information exchange on tax matters with the Netherlands, a national equivalent of the agreements the UK had forced Jersey to sign with the European Union. They also reached agreement on access to mutual agreement procedures relating to transfer pricing and the application of the Dutch participation exemption. The Dutch Finance Minister indicated this may lead to a double tax treaty. [ [http://www.minfin.nl/en/actual/newsrealeases,2007/06/The-Netherlands-and-Jersey-sign-agreement-on-the-e.html Ministry of Finance - The Netherlands and Jersey sign agreement on the exchange of tax information ] ]

U.S. Senate submission

Walker submitted a 4,000-word statement to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, which is reviewing offshore tax evasion, following the introduction of a bill, entitled “Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act”, which named Jersey a “secrecy jurisdiction”. In his statement, Walker stated that Jersey had received a “generally compliant” verdict from the International Monetary Fund in 2003. [ [http://jersey.wantedineurope.com/news/archive.php?PHPSESSID=6b5aab0db56070fbe728f0c95a404614 Jersey news archives ] ]

British-Irish Council

Walker attended meetings of the Council as a representative of Jersey on 16 July 2007 [ [http://www.british-irishcouncil.org/documents/belfast_summit.asp Welcome to the British-Irish Council website ] ] , the Seventh Summit in the Isle of Man in May 2005 [ [http://www.gov.je/ChiefMinister/International+Relations/British-Irish+Council.htm International Relations - British-Irish Council ] ] , and the Jersey Summit held in June 2002 [ [http://www3.british-irishcouncil.org/documents/jersey_summit.asp Welcome to the British-Irish Council website ] ]

Other pledges

Control of government expenditure

As leader of the Council of Ministers at the 2005 elections he extolled the principal platforms of limiting government expenditure growth to 2.5% per annum. However he has failed to achieve these targets with expenditure growing in 2006 by 3.4% and budgeted growth for 2008 now being set at 7.1%. Spending in 2007 was also reported as £50 million ahead of budget. [Jersey Evening Post, 20 July 2007]

Human rights

In 2006, as part of evidence to the corporate services scrutiny panel he indicated that it would be "absurd to bring the human rights law into effect knowing that there were extant breaches" [ [http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/scrutiny/documents/evidence/42105-46816-2032006.htm Scrutiny Report on Age of Consent Debate] ] ; however in December 2006 the law was brought into effect and the first case against the government of Jersey was lodged with the Royal Court a month later.

Criticism

Walker is often viewed by his UK tax critics as exclusively working to benefit the interests of the finance industry. [Tax Research Blog]

He has been criticised by the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the Jersey Institute of Directors and the Jersey Conservative Party for his inability to control the excessive growth in Government expenditure. [ [http://www.progressjersey.com/politics/news.php?item.9 australia bangkok barcelona canada dubai at progressjersey.com ] ] He is also criticised by the Jersey Democratic Alliance.

Child abuse scandal

In February 2008, Walker attracted considerable criticism due to his response to the ongoing investigation of child abuse centred on the former Haut de la Garenne care home. Walker's official position on the matter is that his Council of Ministers will ensure that there is no cover-up and anyone who has been guilty of child abuse in that investigation will be brought to justice. However, following an interview on BBC Radio Jersey, where Stuart Syvret had put forward the view that there had been a systemic failure within Jersey's child protection systems over decades, Walker was filmed retorting that Syvret was out to "shaft Jersey internationally". He was confronted with this footage by Jeremy Paxman on the BBC's "Newsnight" on 25 February 2008. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/02/tax.personalfinancenews A journey from haven to hell | Business | The Observer ] ] . The long-term repercussions of this are difficult to determine, but in the short-term it has been damaging to his reputation internationally and locally in the continuing media reporting of the phrase. [ [http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10766512 Child abuse in Jersey | Not seen, not heard | Economist.com ] ]

References