Call for 'gaslighting' remark withdrawal rejected

Alfred Cannan faced a vote of no confidence following the remarks

A committee's call for the Manx chief minister to withdraw comments that accused the former health minister of "gaslighting" has been rejected by the parliament.

Alfred Cannan said Lawrie Hooper's resignation speech on 15 October was a "fabrication" of facts and accused him of "gaslighting" the Council of Ministers and the public over Manx Care's funding.

A Tynwald Standards and Members' Interests Committee report found Cannan's language to be "unacceptable" and called for the remarks to be withdrawn.

But that recommendation, and a second that would have seen politicians given training on parliamentary language, were voted down by Tynwald members.

When delivering his resignation statement in October, Hooper said he believed Cannan had an "ultimate aim to try and privatise our health service".

A day later, when Hooper was not present, Cannan said the statement was a "fabrication" describing it as a "falsehood and a slur on the Council of Ministers".

The remarks were reported to the committee by Hooper, which also considered comments from a failed motion of no confidence in the chief minister in the House of Keys on 29 October.

During that debate several members criticised Cannan's remarks about Hooper.

Lawrie Hooper MHK announced his resignation as health minister in Tynwald in October

In its latest report the committee concluded Cannan's language had been "unacceptable" and said it was "not acceptable parliamentary practice for one member to characterise what another member has said as fabrication, falsehood or gaslighting".

It also suggested training should be undertaken by all members "in the principles of parliamentary language and debate".

During the debate on the findings in the Manx parliament, Rob Callister MHK said he believed the "entire situation should never have escalated to a stage requiring reporting and recommendations".

Julie Edge MHK said: "We need to stop pretending that we need training camps and start demanding basic decency."

The Manx parliament considered the findings of the report during its May sitting

Committee chairman Juan Watterson SHK told members he thought they were "capable of making their point in debate without impugning character or using inappropriate language".

He said it would be "right that we do as much as we can to learn from this episode and reduce the risk of any similar difficulties arising in future".

However, the motion failed to gain enough voted in Tynwald.

Speaking after the session, Watterson said, by not supporting the recommendations, they had "passed a motion that will allow acceptable standards of behaviour in our national parliament to be far lower".