Although Boris Johnson is the ultimate head, being UK’s Foreign Secretary, the man we will be dealing with may be Sir Alan Duncan.

Sir Alan has been named by the new UK Prime Minster, Theresa May, to be Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). There were two other appointees, Tobias Ellwood and Alok Sharma, who are parliamentary undersecretaries. Anyone of these three could be given the responsibility for looking after the British Overseas Territories (BOT).

At the time of writing this Editorial our man has not been named.

However, popular opinion suggests Sir Alan might be the man we will be dealing with and that could be very interesting.

With the undisguised hostility by some members of our Legislative Assembly to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community I wonder what their reception be if Sir Alan, himself, is given the task of looking after us?

According to Wikipedia:

“Sir Alan James Carter Duncan, KCMG (born 31 March 1957) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutland and Melton. Between 2010 and 2014 he was the Minister of State for International Development.

“Duncan began his career in the oil industry with Royal Dutch Shell, and was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election. After several minor positions in the government of John Major, he played a key role in William Hague’s successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 1997. He received several promotions to the Conservative front bench until he eventually joined the Shadow Cabinet after the 2005 general election and stood for the Conservative leadership in 2005 but withdrew early on because of a lack of support. Eventual winner David Cameron appointed him Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in December 2005, the title of which was changed to Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in July 2007, now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He was removed from the Cabinet and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George following the Government reshuffle in July 2014.

“A return to front-line politics was signalled when his appointment as a minister of state at the Foreign Office (deputy foreign minister) was announced on 17 July 2016.”

Oh. I almost missed this. “He was the first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament, having publicly come out in 2002.”

However, all may not be lost. Our new head could also be Alok Sharma, as unlike Tobias Ellwood, there has been no official announcement of what his duties are.

“Alok Sharma (born 7 September 1967)[1] is an Indian-born British politician with the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. He was elected in 2010 as Member of Parliament for Reading West and in 2016 was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by Theresa May.” Wikipedia.

Sharma is married with two children.

I am positive there are many here who will be keeping their fingers crossed Sharma will be our man.

I would find it more interesting if it was Sir Alan. But then I am mischievous, old, ugly and don’t care a fig what people think of me. I am happy to announce I am not gay, although I do have some gay friends.

It therefore doesn’t bother me at all if our headmaster is gay or not. It shouldn’t you.

UPDATE: We are all wrong. This was announced by GIS this morning (19):

“New OT Minister Heads Up

“This is just to let you know that I’ve had confirmation from the Governor’s Office that Rt Hon Baroness Anelay of St Johns, DBE, will be the FCO Minister with responsibility for the Overseas Territories.”

You can find out all about her at: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/anelay-of-st-johns

Baroness Anelay is named as Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.