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Cabinet Comes Down On Faber For Betraying Collective Responsibility
posted (August 28, 2019)
Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber is not a politician known to dodge the media - but he did so today when the press waited for him at the conclusion of another event. He said he didn't want to get in trouble.

Sources tell us - the Deputy Prime Minister is in trouble with the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Those sources say the PM scolded him yesterday at Cabinet for speaking out of turn last week. That's when Faber commented publicly on the house approved write-off for the Cabinet Secretary's son, Joshua Perdomo. Here are the remarks he gave to Love TV:...

Hon. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
"I think that it is unfortunate and I will say this that I suspect that other cabinet colleagues will tell you the same thing, while you have to specify in the house and the Prime Minister knows this and has the support of cabinet and I was not present in the caucus. We normally have a caucus on the Tuesday before the house meeting. I was away, but I suspect that even if I were in that meeting the details of all of these write-off motions would not have been discussed. While I can say I did not know that it was happening and it was the cabinet secretary son, that is unfortunate and it is not the kind of thing that I would support. What the cabinet will do I can't tell you. I am one in the cabinet and even if I have an opinion and I just shared my opinion with you, I cannot speak on behalf of the cabinet. I think it is fair enough for us to put it back on the table at the cabinet level and try to see what can be done."

Well, Cabinet did review it - and - we are told - the main thing the Prime Minister found is that Faber violated the firm principle of collective responsibility, which holds that members of the cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them.

And, so, Faber, who will formally launch his campaign for leadership with a divisional endorsement convention next week, has run into an early headwind - with gusts coming from the highest office in the land.

There has been friction between the two before - partly because Faber has been quietly lobbying in the background for PM Barrow to firmly fix a date to step down, so the Deputy can step up.

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