The Chief Minister staged “a coup against his own government” in the dying days of his administration, according to a former senior government press officer.
Alistair Ramsay, who spent 18 years at the heart of the Council of Ministers, said Alf Cannan had “thrown his entire administration under the bus” ahead of the general election.
“This is the first time that I’ve seen the chief minister who, in the dying moments of his administration, emerges as a kind of opposition figure,” Alistair said in an interview with Manx.News.
He said the dramatic events of the past week, which saw the Treasury Minister removed, had made Tynwald “look quite kind of naive and weak” and highlighted “a number of characteristics of Manx politics”.
Alistair said the U-turn showed collective responsibility had “disappeared completely” and that a more experienced Tynwald would have foreseen the panic and described the administration as a “dysfunctional right, left kind of coalition” that “just doesn’t work.”
The former insider concluded that the island’s consensus political system was now “broken” and in need of fundamental reform to provide clearer public accountability.