The Cayman Islands premier, Hon. McKeeva Bush, has blasted out at nearly every public opportunity to show his discontent and anger in his dealings with the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Faceless bureaucrats is one of his expressions describing his contempt for the civil servants in London who have to look at every nut and bolt in his budget.

Many of us, I included, have not been very happy with some of his remarks and his frequent rudeness at Governor Duncan Taylor has left me feeling very uncomfortable. He has often made the point that the Governor is not here to help Cayman. He has said many times the UK/OT relationship is NOT based on mutual interests.

On the 22^nd March, 2012, Dr. Ewart F. Brown, who was Premier of Bermuda from 2006 to 2010, was invited to give an address at the University College of the Cayman Islands during the “50-50 Caribbean Conference: Surveying the Past, Mapping the Future”. His subject: ‘Is the U.K. – Overseas Territory relationship based on mutual interests? ‘

His short answer was “No”.

The following are excerpts from his presentation that show Mr. Bush’s opinions regarding the FCO are shared by Dr. Brown.

“To fully understand the nature of the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories, you must call to remembrance the fundamentals of the British Empire. That institution is based upon a simple belief — the British are superior.

“To deny the existence of that belief destroys the foundational understanding of the relationship. It means that not only can you not understand them, but you cannot understand us — the peoples of the remaining territories.

“In 2012, in Bermuda and other territories, our minds are still captivated by the British and their superiority — we “drank the tea”. And, I don’t know who perpetuates the myth more — the colonizers or the colonized.

“Consider: When I became leader of the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party and thus Premier of Bermuda, as leaders of countries do when they land by plane in their home countries, I had the driver bring the car on the tarmac to pick me up. As a matter of practice in Bermuda, that had not been done by past premiers. Some of the colonized spoke up to say: “Who does he think he is? Let him go through Customs and Immigration like everybody else.”

“Yet, no one has ever questioned why our British Governors always have their cars on the tarmac when they return home, and do not go through Customs and Immigration like everybody else. But, they are superior. Unfortunately, this is in the minds of the British and in many of ours as well.

“What about budget cutbacks? During these recessionary times, there has been a hue and cry all over Bermuda and other nations for leaders and public officials to voluntarily take a decrease in salary — to lead by example. Bermuda’s Parliamentarians, led by our Premier, voted themselves a pay cut this past Friday.

“Union workers have been asked to take cuts, certain public services have been reduced, a few social programs have lost funding — but not once have I heard even a whisper that the $1.6 million annual outlay that goes to Government House should be cut back. Is there no moral obligation for the British Governor to lead by example, and volunteer to take a pay cut? Oops, I forgot. The British are superior.

“On our tiny island where land is scarce, our Premier’s actual residence is nice, but unspectacular. It sits in something of a 7-acre shallow glen just off of a major thoroughfare, while the Premier’s official residence is a beautiful front that has entertainment, but no residential capacity. On the other hand, Government House, where the British Governor lives and entertains, is a stately, manor-like structure sitting on a 37-acre hill overlooking the North Shore, replete with a private chef and other staff. But, don’t forget, they are superior.

“The steady diet of British superiority has had its effect, even on the independent nations of the Region. In one such country, I marveled at a commemorative plaque, erected to mark the opening of a capital project, completed with UK aid. The citation reads in part: “The British were here, thank God”.

“So the sole “mutual” element of the relationship is British superiority. No amount of Whitehall posturing about “a new relationship” and “partnership through progress” and all of the other catchy phrases used over the last decade can dilute this single truth.

“By definition, the relationship between the UK and the OTs cannot be based on mutual interests. The assigned Governors, or overseers, are accountable to the UK and so must safeguard the UK’s interests first. How is this manifested in reality? Here are some examples:

“Before giving Assent to any law passed by the elected representatives of an OT, the Governor considers whether the law is okay with the UK, and in some cases, takes early advice from Whitehall on whether he should sign it. Mutual interests? I think not.

“And then there is the “Entrustment”……. Before doing some things in the name of your people and your country, formal permission in writing is required in the form of an Entrustment. So your government’s election by popular vote, and the mandate that typically brings in normal democracies, is regulated by an institution professing mutual interests but whose function in the Entrustment is to protect the interests of the UK. Mutual interests? Certainly not!

“The global economic situation has caused a re-examination of the relationship, albeit somewhat quietly.

“For a short while, the fiction of contingent liability figured in some discussions about the financial dealings within the OTs. No-one seems to have asked how, where there is no liability or responsibility, we have the specter raised of contingent liability. Imagine the UK, with all its own internal issues, and most prominently as the banana peel of European financing woes, inferring that they could and would assume some liability for what they might see as financial issues in the OTs. That would be a first.

“It would be a stunning surprise, considering how former Prime Minister Gordon Brown threw Bermuda and other OT’s under the bus at the G-20 meetings in April, 2009. The former Prime Minister did not see the need for Offshore Financial Centres in the global economy, referred to us as tax havens, and spearheaded the attack on many of Britain’s own OT’s as if Britain had no relationship with us.

“Bermuda and others were grey-listed by OECD as a result, when a benign heads-up or simple representation of our interests at the table would perhaps have given many OT’s time to acquire more Tax Information Exchange Agreements and entirely avoid unnecessary grey-listing. Mutual interests? In this instance, how about no interest at all? More like, “Have we met before?”

“If you really want to hear something weird, listen to this. While I was Premier, someone altered cancelled checks and placed them in Government files to make it appear that a Minister and I received kickbacks on a Government job — a clear forgery and a clear attempt to frame a sitting Premier and a Minister for crimes…perhaps to bring down the Government. The Governor announced that the local police would investigate. The local police did investigate, but supposedly could find no chargeable culprit in Bermuda; he was said to reside in Canada.

“A case for Scotland Yard, or for diplomatic channels? I would think so. But our Governor did not request help from England. The criminal case against these persons who committed treason against the Bermuda Government was allowed to founder and die.

“Nine months ago, after I had ceased to be Premier, a convicted perjurer made the totally unfounded claim that I had attempted to coerce from him some part of his worthless company. No shred of evidence was presented, yet the Governor announced that the local police would investigate to see whether I had engaged in criminal acts. The Governor also later announced that he was requesting assistance from U.S. investigatory agencies, presumably the FBI.

“Mutual interests that would not call in Scotland Yard to investigate a conspiracy and crimes to frame a sitting Premier and Minister.

“Mutual interests where the UK would allow a criminal who committed crimes against a sitting Premier and Minister to reside peacefully in Canada without pursuit through diplomatic channels?

“Mutual interests where the UK’s representative would call for an investigation of a former Premier and seek assistance from the U.S. based on the rants of a known, convicted liar, but seek no help from the UK when a crime has been known to be committed against a sitting Premier, Minister and the Government of the day. Mutual interests?

“I end where I started: Is the UK / OT relationship based on mutual interests?

“No.”

Dr. Brown’s address was much longer than I have reposted and was also on the topic “Bermuda and the Uighurs – A Case Study”. In June of 2009, Brown agreed to accept into Bermuda, four men who had been detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He said:

“The criticism around my decision was well-aired and was perhaps summarized in the views of those who claimed that I should have asked the UK’s permission to do it. I did not ask the UK’s permission because I believed then, and I believe now, that constitutionally, immigration is a domestic issue. As such, allowing the immigration of four foreigners was within my power as Premier of my country in the same sense that the Government issues work permits for foreigners to live in Bermuda everyday without permission from the UK.”

He also talked at some length on gang crime that was and still is prevalent in Bermuda. In 2007, he said, gang violence was “rearing its head. Gun play was rare but increasing. Gangs were forming and turf skirmishes were rising.”

When he recognised the signs he “sounded the alarm”.

“The record will reflect that my call for overseas assistance went virtually unheeded. I knew then and said so at the time that this gang thing could not be allowed to grow — that it had to be stamped out without delay.

“My Government’s request went through the proper channels — we made presentations; we urged action; we even engaged in some saber-rattling to spur the British to act. We wanted to engage the assistance of former American law enforcement personnel because gang activity in Bermuda best mirrored the American model.

“Our entreaties were given cursory attention and rejected. We were provided with the UK version of assistance, which essentially did not work. We now have a more visible gang problem in Bermuda, which might have been prevented had we been granted permission to deal with this phenomenon early.

“So, were our mutual interests served in this case?”

Doesn’t a lot of what Dr. Brown said sound very familiar with what has and is happening here in the Cayman Islands?

So is our premier, Hon. McKeeva Bush correct in his opinion regarding the UK and its relationship with its Overseas Territories?