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The Chief Minister is hoping to introduce legislation which will give him the ability to "suspend" Ministers in "certain circumstances".
Revealing the planned changes in a letter outlining his ministerial and legislative priorities for the year ahead, Deputy Lyndon Farnham explained that, later this year, amendments to the States of Jersey 2025 will be brought forward.
"This would address a current deficiency in the Law, which provides mechanisms to appoint and to dismiss ministers but not to suspend them," he explained.
Any previous occasions involving a suspension of either a Minister or Assistant Minister – such as the suspension of Assistant Minister Montfort Tadier under Chief Minister John Le Fondré – were made by agreement between parties.
However, work is now being undertaken to provide a clear statutory process in the States of Jersey Law for future suspensions.
This work is currently in the policy development phase. However, Express understands that the ability for the Chief Minister to suspend a Minister or Assistant Minister is likely to be triggered only in serious and specific circumstances, such as a criminal investigation and any resulting proceedings.
Pictured: Assistant Minister Montfort Tadier was suspended for two months in 2019 after calling for the Hospital's leading pain specialist to be sacked over his views on medicinal cannabis in an email.
Clashes between Ministers came to the fore during Deputy Kristina Moore's time as Chief Minister, with various public clashes with her own Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, who eventually resigned to call a vote of no confidence which resulted in her becoming the first person in local history to be ousted from the island's top political job at the start of this year.
Deputy Binet accused his former leader of a "complete lack of integrity" and "woeful lack of leadership skill", and in an explosive report described the time serving in her Government as a “depressing affair for many close to the centre of power” which had seen many “heady promises... [fail] to materialise”.
But the spat between the pair stretched back far further than the vote of no confidence.
The Chief Minister later released a set of correspondence that revealed tensions between her and Deputy Binet stretched as far back as October.
Pictured: The tensions between former Chief Minister Kristina Moore and her Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet stretched back almost a year.
Later in the year, Deputy Binet told States Members during a debate on the controversial creation of a new oversight board for Health that he had been threatened by the Chief Minister that he would be reported to the political behaviour watchdog – the Commissioner for Standards – if he stood up to speak against the motion. Deputy Moore denied that this was a threat.
Deputy Binet was not the only member of Deputy Moore's team to object to the health reform – four others also voted against: Assistant Ministers Steve Ahier, Rose Binet and Richard Vibert, and Assistant Chief Minister Andy Jehan.
During the debate, Constable Jehan went so far as to explain that he had offered to resign due to his disagreement.
This was later referenced in his resignation letter in November, which expressed "severe concerns" about the board, and also fired a broadside at the Health Minister for the apparent lack of "coherent strategy" in Health, as well as her failure to endorse the Government's plans to upgrade the island's health facilities.
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