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In November of last year, Cabinet  announced that Prime Minister Dean Barrow will be staying on as PM right up until very close to the very end of his term. That was a marked change in plans, because originally he had said he would step down a year or so before. 

This decision came after 16 members of Cabinet asked the PM to stay to keep the party from splintering as the result of a heated contest for party leader.  

That was the worst news for Deputy PM Patrick Faber - who had every expectation that the PM would step aside, and he would slide into the driver’s seat for a year or so.  

But when it all went down at Cabinet, Faber was traveling - and he was the odd man out. 

Today, he said that while it does push things back a bit, nothing has really changed for him.

Hon. Patrick Faber - Acting Prime Minister
"When it was that Prime Minister Barrow announced that he would leave office earlier, it was not my any decision of the party, it was by his own decision and so what people are misunderstanding is that if the prime minister says in retrospect and even if it comes at the request of other members of cabinet and he decided; well I don't want to resign just yet, he's not breaking any rule of the party so to speak because as strictly speaking that amendment to the constitution says that he has up until 2020 to remain in the leadership position."

Reporter
"Does his decision to affect your aspirations?"

Hon. Patrick Faber
"I want to make it clear, when the prime minister indicated that he was going to leave earlier; obviously you all know of my ambition to lead, the gates were opened. It was not out of any haste or interest to see the prime minister depart prematurely, it was out of the fact that he made the decision that he was going to leave and naturally that is something that I aspire towards. So the gates were open, we started off with the race so to speak but it does not in any way change my ambition or hampers what will continue to be my goal of leading the UDP."

We note that John Saldivar is the other political hopeful that has eyes on the seat of the Prime Minister. The PM's term effectively ends in the year 2020.