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It's rapidly becoming this decade's equivalent of "Who shot JR?"
The release this week of more than a hundred pages of e-mails relating to the 'South African flights' scandal has re-ignited the intriguing question of where the story came from? Although there is no smoking gun, there's a whiff of cordite, with cryptic references such as "...there is only one person feeding this story...."
Ok, so far on 'Who leaked the flights story?' - two top civil servants booked fully-flexible, business class tickets to attend a major mining sector trade fair, and promote the Island, exactly as they had done in previous years. One took his golf clubs, both played on the day of arrival. Cue major scandal about the flights cost (just over £12,000), the value of the trip, why they booked top tickets and then played golf, and the rules governing States travel bookings (which neither of the men had broken).
But then a far more interesting story began to emerge: who leaked the story to the media in the first place, and more importantly, why?
Contrary to the view of one senior politician we spoke to this week, it matters. It matters because it was probably done for one of three reasons a) to deflect attention from another, even better story b) to settle a score c) out of a genuine desire to right a perceived wrong. If the latter, why smash it publicly in the media right from the start, why not go through an internal complaint, since the source is clearly someone on the inside?
On the face of it, this week's e-mails, released under the Freedom of Information law, seemed to give an answer, but it was one which flattered to deceive: here's Senator Lyndon Farnham's e-mail of the 26th February:
"I am very disappointed that Philip (Senator Philip Ozouf) went to the media with this and will be bringing it up with CoM (Council of Ministers)"
But it is not clear exactly what the "this" is referring to, and when asked this week for clarification, Senator Farnham remained tight-lipped, ensuring the intrigue will only continue. All he will say now is, "I don't want to talk about it any more," and, "I have no evidence that Philip leaked it," and, "I don't think it is productive for Ministers to be squabbling in public." Conspicuously, he isn't retracting his comment suggesting that he believes the leak came from his fellow Minister.
The man at the centre of the allegation, Senator Ozouf, denies that he leaked the story, saying this week, "I can't answer a question that was not in my writing (sic) and I don't know the context it was made;" and again when Express first raised the issue in May:
"I am not going to have it suggested to me that I have given any information. All information I have given about travel costs has been given appropriately. Any speculation is inappropriate. Unfortunately good officers have been caught in a tangle of political arguments about cost savings."
A point that might appear to be in Senator Ozouf's favour is that the released e-mail correspondence also shows he was actually very critical of the JEP's coverage, which it is alleged he initiated, writing in an e-mail on the 19th February:
"Sadly, normal obsession of the JEP on costs of business class travel (hence my extreme frugalness where I can) more of an issue for me than you, but as discussed with Mile (sic) careful explanation needed. We've seen this time and time before, sadly."
The JEP's "normal obsession...on costs of business class travel" was actually echoed and endorsed across the local media, and in most subsequent media, public and political comment; but notwithstanding that, if Senator Ozouf was the source, it would seem a little perverse to create the story, and then privately attack the media for running it. Unless something else was going on, which has not yet emerged.
All of which shines an intriguing light for Islanders on what happens behind the scenes of major news stories such as this, with civil servants feeling the media are out to get them, and that they don't get enough support from politicians; while those politicians are desperately trying to stand in the middle of the see-saw, and find the words to explain away the story, while also showing empathy with the views of the people who elected them in the first place.
But all of that doesn't leave Islanders any the wiser on the key point of where the story came from in the first place.
Perhaps, like the 80's equivalent 'Who shot JR?', all will come out in time - with further Freedom of Information requests most likely to be the tool which secures the answer.
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