Terry – Tel Boy – le Main
Ah – where to start?
Terry Le Main could be held up as the prime example of what is fundamentally dysfunctional (you’ll have to get someone to explain it to you, Tel) in Jersey politics.
He epitomises the false and misleading triumph of style over content that is pervasive amongst our clowns.
I know – “style” - is not word one would naturally associate with Tel Boy, but let me explain.
Those ‘old-school’ Jersey politicians learnt a very, very long time ago that you could be utterly vacuous, have not a thought – let alone an original thought – between your ears, be hopelessly incompetent, devoid of principle – and generally be the kind of character that would fit right in with the chimpanzees’ tea-party that is the States of Jersey.
As long as you had a ‘pitch’, an ‘angle’ – a fake persona you could project to the public; manufactured in such a way as to appeal to a sufficient cohort of voters.
True enough – different politicians have adopted different approaches – but the essential methodology remains.
Take Pierre Horsefall, for example – a man widely know throughout the civil service as “Plausibility Pierre”.
His Unique Selling Point was the carefully crafted gravitas, bespoke appearance and polished oratory of the text-book “Elder Statesman”.
But underneath that oh so credible exterior was a hollow man, with not a thought of his own in his head, and who just did whatever he was told by God – AKA, Colin Powell.
So whilst Horsfall always, always looked and sounded the part – the reality is that he is almost certainly the worst leader Jersey has ever had.
So what of Tel Boy? His carefully calculated USP has been that of the “Man Of The People”. He’s always possessed a certain animal cunning, so he turned his deficiencies into advantages. The ignorance, the inarticulacy, the stupidity – the complete in ability to adhere to a consistent set of polices – all gross inadequacies.
So Tel Boy’s tactics were to willingly adopt the cloak of “I’m just an ordinary working bloke – I may be an inarticulate, directionless nincompoop – “but I’m on your side,”
Terry Le Main – cheeky-chappy – lovable rogue – “Working Class Hero”.
He has sold this fake persona to the voting public for decades. And in many respects, he and others like him, are worse than the overtly establishment politicians. At least with them you know what you’re getting.
With Le Main – you see the bumbling half-wit – acting the “ordinary man”; giving it the “Working Class Hero” bit for all he’s worth – yet then spending each term of Office stamping on the ordinary people who brought into all this rubbish and elected him in the expectation that he’d look after the concerns of the working classes.
But – in truth – when you look at his voting record over the many years he has been in the States, he has consistently been one of the most Right-wing, pro-establishment, anti-working-person politicians the States has seen in 30 years.
That’s his biggest failing – the sheer, unembarrassed fakery of the public persona he adopts – in contrast with the neo-Reganite politics he pursues when in power.
So when considering the bumbling imbecile that is Terry Le Main – look beneath that “Working Class Hero” image.
For underneath you’ll find the typical Right-wing, short-termist Jersey establishment character.
Stuart
