Hugh Shearer

The Sunday Gleaner, December 31, 1967, p. 6. UGH_SHEARER ��·�·�· Man of t e -1967 . by.-: � There -�heis Political �Reporter hardly any· person ir. ALEXANDER'S WITHDRAWAL sm FROM T� POLITICAL scene has �o changed othe Jamaica who will be surprised at thE • thmgs to a great extent. For mstan.ce, one r·�- been a loss in the personal power selectton of the Hon. H u h Shear· sult has ct • g Mr. Norman Manley. It seems that people na- • Sir Alexander. er, a s Jamatca's political 0 l-'turally paired Mr. Manley with man and therefore the withdrawal of one means e tl 19 6 7 • He has towered head and gradual eclipse of the other. It is not that Mr. Manley )las lost his public standing: it just is s hou ld ers over every other Jamaican that people do not think of him any longer as • • • way 1• • the man to beat Mr. Shearer, in the same po ttlctan th" past year the tm,;as he was always considered the man to beat IS m • • • Sir Alexander Bustamante, pact h eh has d a ott the pohttcal hfe In other words, since the elections in Febru- J a t s a o£ Jamaica and in the influence��;.:. n te c te n e ��g s:� r�� o�� !e!, ��; �a; a� �t�hill he has had on public affairs. a n p i . h h ne !�remarkable�� :: job.��; �; � �a: � �� : Indeed, as a public figure he has burst on whole is that out the Jamaican scene in such a The irony in the thing c u nO' s n Shearer did not consciously seek F:pe tar lar fashion' layi � his hand o 'Mr·. office until the last moment. It is not aU aspects of the nation 'll life that it made it unnecessary this year f�r me to that Mr. Shearer did not consider himself balance and weigh as ever being Prime Minister of Jamai one a()'ainst� the other n i dividual contributions to political de- ca, in spite of the fact that he resisted velopment in Jamaica made by one claim- all the pressures brought to bear on him by Sir Alexander and Lady Bustamante ant or the other for this title. I must remind you that this column selects to remove Mr. Sangster and take over every year's end, the �an or th e woman leadership of the party during the last has :nade the greatest unpact on the isla'1d'swho . pubhc (more specifically political) life for electlon. It was more Ill the nature of or gond J;>ad; and that generally speaking neither Mr. Shearer that he could not see himself, Alexander Bustamante nor Mr. Norman Sir · ley� the two stalwarts of the JamMa!l-�n'!�n as others could see themselves, actively �.c., p_ol1hcal scene were considered for selection, removing . Sangster from a position Mr · he smce . m the very nature of things their ou:- • ' s ha d spen t many years m creat' 1ng s1mp y tandmg rivalries so controlled and directed 11 1 political energies o:f the Jamaican public, th because Sir Alexander wanted it so. In 1t would have been well �1 nigh impossible to st>- fact Mr. Shearer placed the whole weight lect any person but one of these two year after · • year after year. of the BITU behmd l\Ir. Sangster m that The scene has changed. Sir Alexander fight for leadership At that time he was mante, thrtlugh age and infirmity, has Busta- · ' drawn from the political field; and that is with-what prepared to g1ve Mr. Sangster the leader- has been responsible for the change in the facts ship of the Jamaica Labour Party for as of political life in Jamaica today. Up to the as e w t ed 1 , W e hile h st ay d time of his withdrawal, the grand old man o f 1 ong1 1 an 'i � Jamaican politics relished the situation in which back and looked on, content in the behef l the late Sir Donald Sangster �ound hi.ms.e f. It that he could position himself behind Mr. eant that he could use fachons w1thm . J'LP and control everyone that way, becauthese Sangster and assume leadership when e':'eryone WBil. then jostling for succession Mr. Sangster retired. S1r Donald d1dn't know where he would �ng-etd support if he should make a frontal attack on But this was not to be; Sir Donald Sangste:-, the citadels of leadership, as he was then, died, and Mr. Shearer wa�. It is forced by circumstances and by the prodd;u� perhaps a pity that Sir Donald lived onl for on month of elements within and without ±he JLP, to � � after his assumptio of unc1rcu scn consider himself for immediate leadershiv. � �ed power, for we have no n o knowmg There were many who did not relish leadership ! JUSt what kind of Prime Minister\\•ay Sn· o 1ald by either Mr. Tavares or Mr. Lightbourne � � would have made without the a"d overndmg these were the only two� alternatives, Mr. presence of Sir Alexander and if without Shearer did not choose to slHind. having to worry about the fact of It is an interesting commentary on the �· Lightbourne and Mr. Tavares looking cntically strength of Sir Alexander's advocacy that over his shoulders at his every was his political heir, that many perMr. v tmuulant him. Shearer ..cila.Jlfla.io sons considered him just that, at a time when he held no post of leadership within the Ja maica Labour Party Executive and in fact did not campaign for the post of Prime Minister. He was Canada with Dr. Herbert Eldemir in a eside while Mr. Tavares and er' Mr. -- accession to the Prinle Minis t�jthtl:iourne were carrymg ou eJr car>1- r. hearer's has ushered in a new era palgns amon� the MPs and the JLP branches. ter's office, therefore, effectively and conclusi?e What campaign there was for Mr. Shearer was in Jamaica's politics, of the Bustamante/Manley undertaken unbidden and jointly by Mr. Ed ly marking the end the reins of power, �o ward Seaga, Mr. Edwin Allen and Mr. period, yet holding Victcr still hands of this remarkable Gra!lt. And so it was that Mr. Shearer far, firmly in the went and third cousins wno straight from the Palisadoes Airport on hi� re family of first, second of the legendary Old turn f�·om Canada to face the other two candi are the descendants M<..n dates m ballots to select a new Prime· Minister Shearer. Minister, Mr. something which had only come about becau�� Since his election as Prime the party and both Mr. Seaga and Mr. Grant had prevent�d Shear'er has won more support in among the back the Go_vernor-General from taking unilateral strengthened his position . and m · his Parliamentary Majority actwn favour of one of the other candidafes benchers of in large, as expressed - Mr. Lightbourne. among party delegates at Lead Up to this very moment Sir Alexander trilld his unopposed election to be 1st Deputy to use his considerable influence in favour er, under Bustamante, at the party's last annual of Mr. Shearer, At the balloting, Mr. E. L. convention. Parkinson, the then JLP Chairman of C. Executive, received from Sir Alexander thea In the Cabinet he has taken charg"- as Mr. Jetter to be read to the MPs. The Jetter was a Sangster was never permitted to do, "'nd !HI� strong recommendation for Shearer, but be given it positive leadership. He demands action is fore the balloting Mr. Parkinson called the from his Ministers and he gets it. The result three contestants together - Shearer, Tavares that the Cabinet is doing more work and the and Lightbourne - and after reading the Civil Service is getting Ministerial decisiOns letter to them, proposed ·that It should not be promptly. read as requested by Sir Alexander because His public pronouncements,. particularly on r violence, and the need for work and sac ifice, could be interpreted as a "speech"... and tt the "no nonsense" sobriquet which he �reated hadit been decided before Shearer's return to for himself, all have a touch of the old Busta the island that none of the three eontestants mante magic, with something added - t!:le should address the MPs gathered to ch11ose a forcefulness of a younger man. Shearer has had ne�v Prime Minister for Jamaica. Although The result has been that Mr. all sec thts was a serious disadvantage to Mr. great response and cooperation from Shearer - he had not yet had a chance to tions of the community, even PNP Opposition were speak to anyone and had been unable to cam members attack him much less than they . Sang�ter. )Jaign because of his absence from the wont to attack Sir Alexander or Mr Civil Se!' - he agreed to Parkinson's proposalisland and There is a general quickening of the have Bustamante's JetterMr. of support for him W<is vice, and the Police particular . take? in fact that not read to the MPs. Undoubtedly this d� on a new image, in spite of the· cn . prtved Mr. Shearer of very por rful support minal violence is still high, though now much bef,1re from among the MPs who had •een subject more subdued than had been the case l a clearer tu ed to intensive campaign manoe vres by the Mr. Shearer took office. Probably other two Ministers, Mr. Lightbourne and Mr.

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