JERSEY now has a foreign minister to promote the Island at Westminster and around the world.
Senator Freddie Cohen has been given the role because of his close relationships with several Members of Parliament.
The announcement comes following concerns that Jersey does not have an effective presence in London, something that was blamed for the Island’s failure to maintain the reciprocal health agreement.
Read the full report, including other ministerial changes, in today’s JEP
Article posted on 14th January, 2011 - 3.00pm
43 Article Comments
Good one. The world thinks of us as millionaire money launderers.
So let’s appoint a millionaire to be our foreign minister. Another step towards UDI no doubt.
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Oh. My. God.
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I think this guy needs to concentrate on one job at a time – he quite clearly can’t cope with his Planning role. What even qualifies him for this post? I wouldn’t trust this guy to represent a Parish bowls club.
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A fine Choice.
I have to say that I am really proud of our Government and I hope Ian Le Marquand gets the top job in October.
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Oh dear Jesus, Mr Popularity himself. He’ll be our ambassador?!
It’s like Fawlty Towers.
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I have a friend,who has a friend,who knows a friend at Buckingham palace.does this mean,that i qualify for a ministers job.
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Excellent. As Foreign Minister he may be able to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the lands illegally occupied in 1967 and condemned by numerous UN resolutions and stop the continued development of the settlements on those lands. Probably not.
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GOD HELP US………he can,t even control planning…….and thats by an offical report……..this is typical states of Jersey……somebody fluffs up and we give him an higher profile job…GOD HELP US.BTW was he born in Jersey?????
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Congratulations Freddie.
I hope you don’t get bothered by the usual suspects on here, as I am sure you won’t. you know the one’s, the vocal minority – the ‘truthseekers’ of the world. Simple flies in the ointment.
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The Lieutenant Governor from the UK, sits in the States Assembly doing what exactly, and then the privy council decides if new Jersey laws are fit for purpose and EU compliant.
So what will Senator Cohen´s exact remit be ? To form a new foreign department to pally up to London with a view to going independent
Just when you thought it could not get any more crazy or undemocratic in Jersey.
Tim South.
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Interesting. So how many languages can he speak then?
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What will his friends at Westminster think when he tells them about the 100 million pound oversized hideous incinerator which takes 2 months of stock-piling to fill up based close to a historial bathing area at Havre-des-Pas.
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HELP!!!!!!!!!
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As far as I am concerned Jersey acts as a satelite for the City of London, so it already has a presence there. Why duplicate things?
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JOBS FOR THE BOYS EH!
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Almost as bad as if Ian Le Marquand was to get Chief Minister…we’re blighted!!!!
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He’ll be on holiday from now on
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So a man who continually makes a disaster of the job he has got is now given a job where he can really make a mess for us.At least before he was confined to the Island.I remember an American General who on hearing that Dan Quayle had been elected Vice President, remarked that he wouldn’t trust him with a fire cracker yet alone a nuclear bomb.Same scenario, different place and time. But there again who out of our bunch of clowns could be entrusted with this task? Do you get the feeling someone in Whitehall is thinking ” Rope to hang themselves” especially after the Zero-Ten debacle.
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“a historical bathing area at Havre-des-Pas.”
The Victorian Seaside mini-resort where planning permission has been given for the reasonably sized Fort d’Auvergne Hotel to be replaced by even more flats? SEVEN STOREYS HIGH?!
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Oh dear, possibly one of the most hated men in the island? Nice one Tezza, you really do have your finger on the public’s pulse!
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Congratulations, Freddie. I am sure you will represent us all on this little Rock with eloquence, gravitas and style.
You know I don’t agree with everything you have done at Planning but your heart is in the right place, you want to do the best for Jersey. But please do stick to policy and truly represent Islander’s interests on the bigger stage. Maybe even market our excellent local skills abroad? That would be nice.
You have more support than appears from others comments. Hope you stand again this Autumn and make your “Foreign Affairs” work a longer lasting success. Time to hand over Planning & Environment to another.
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Oh My God what ever next it goes from bad to worse. This man cant organise a knees up in a brewery !
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the usual polemic from no 9 inspired by a hero worship of Ayan Rand I guess..
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I would say to Freddie Cohen, don’t be so gullible as to think this new job will delete from the memory of the public what you did to Jersey as Planning “and environment” minister.
I predict this could well be your final 36 months in politics because of the latter.
But on the upside, seeing as you’re a beneficiary of the old “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, when that time comes you can always ask those friends in London if they know of any jobs.
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Full steam towards “Independence Day” If only we had Will Smith to save us. This is a complete joke. What next? The make it up as you go along gang are running wild and there is not a thing we can do about it.
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Well done Freddie! You are certainly a man of the people. I, as a Christian Elementary School boy have been a friend of yours for many years and I have never known you to be bigoted or snobbish. I am pleased that a position has been created in the States that will suit you and hopefully will encourage to sit again. Knowing personally as I do I believe that you would make the perfect First Minister.
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This is great news, if it keeps him out of our Island he wont be able to continue destroying it with his iconic buildings.
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good at least walker has not got the job
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Pre election profile building. Nothing more.
Also proof he will stand again,
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Great news – now can we PLEASE send him somewhere foreign!!
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I don’t recall this coming up in the states. I don’t recall any notice. I don’t recall any public consultation. I don’t recall any democracy. In short, this is yet another post which is imposed upon the people as a fait accompli.
Like the position of “chief minister”, it has no democratic base or validity. A number of people don’t recognise these lauagable, toytown, nepotistic positions.
Are we allowed to know which English MPs to which Cohen is connected? Is John Bercow one of them? What are their political colours? Why and for what purpose did Cohen have these connections before he entered the States?
Are we seeing a rather cynical raising of Cohen’s profile in advance of the forthcoming election?
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@14 Someone who is switched on.. thanks
Jersey is not as meek and mild as what our ministers wish us to think, I wonder if they fluff things up on purpose so knock us off the scent?
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Another grandiose title that means very little.
He will continue to destroy what little political support he has left at Planning while pretending to be a Foreign Minister.
I notice that we do not have a Minister for Defence or better a War Department, another non job that Terry could appoint one of his mates to!
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No. 19 Those flats have a well sought after seaview or they did have until the hideously designed incinerator took over.
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This is whats called Jersey democracy? He cannot do the job he has now how is he going to cope??
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29 more likely to stand down and be appointed European and foreign delegate like \kinnock all exes paid and 150k a taer…the whole Euro thing is a complete scam of quangos and backhanders.
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This is no worse, and possibly better, than having the likes of TLS doing the role.
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No wonder he’s smiling! Think of the expense account. I wonder if he’ll have a duckhouse in his garden soon!?
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Oh Please!!Who do you people think you are?Foreign Minister.We’re no bigger than a small village in the UK.Get down off that high horse you silly little man!!Friends in Westminster!!??What does that mean??I’m moving to Australia in one month thank god!!
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I just wonder if he will get re-elected when his urrent term of office expires.
I voted for him first time round because I thought from his background, he would bring much needed businesse accumen to the States. How wrong I was ! His involvement at Planning is frankly embarasing. I have even spoken to him personally, having observed him driving his car repeatedly while not wearing a seatbelt to express my dissapointment at his perfornance !
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The headline is incorrect. It is not “our” foreign minister. It is a “jobs for the boys” fait accompli by cronies. Not only is it not “our” foreign minister, but it is not actually a valid appointment at all. The sooner this toytown nonsense ends, the better. The end must surely come soon, given the level of public disquiet; it’s a bit like the feeling which must have existed prior to the Bolshevic revolution.
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It’s toecurlingly awful, an insult to the electors and those involved with planning (”we have a backlog”) and an embarassment to the island
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The friends in Westminster are probably the parents of friends of his children. After attending St. Michael’s School for a few years they were all shipped out to the best public schools in England as apparently Jersey Schools weren’t good enough for them.
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