Former Chief Minister Tony Brown has warned the island’s new MHKs to own up when they make mistakes and not try to make excuses.
Brown was an MHK for 25 years, including five as Chief Minister.
Asked what advice he would give to new MHKs, he responded: “When you get in, listen, learn, be careful, make sure what you are doing is right for the Isle of Man, as best you can judge it, and, basically, act with integrity and be honest to your constituents.
“Don’t try and make excuses. If you have done something wrong, just say, ‘I made a mistake.’ Everybody can accept that.”
He added: “You are given a role that is critically important to the people of the Isle of Man and it is very important that you undertake that role with the best intentions.”
National Politicians or Constituency MHKs?
Brown was talking to Manx.News in an in-depth interview during our election coverage.
He also said that it was a “bit of everything” in terms of whether, at election time, voters were electing national politicians or constituency MHKs.
“First and foremost you are electing people to be legislators, because you are electing Members of the House of Keys, which is a legislature.”
Then, he said, as Tynwald Members they became part of the government system.
“What Members have to do is, one, look after their constituents, two, look after their constituency and, three, deal with national politics, and four, actually, depending on where you are, deal with international politics.”
You can watch the third and final part of our interview with Tony Brown here:
