The newest member of the House of Keys has revealed he was dismissed, reinstated and then made redundant from the International Business School a decade ago.
But Douglas West MHK Chris Thomas told iomtoday he was surprised that his chequered history was alluded to in the House of Keys last week - when Education Minister Tim Crookall said he wouldn’t give him a job in his department.
Asked by one backbench MHK whether he would consider taking him, Mr Crookall replied: ‘I have thought about it and I have spoken with the Hon Member for Douglas West. He was known to the department before he was a member of this House, and for that reason I have decided I do not want him as a member.’
Mr Crookall also claimed Mr Thomas had been offered jobs with other departments which he had turned down.
But the Douglas West MHK told the Examiner: ‘I am surprised Mr Crookall gave this answer. What knowledge is relevant to his decision? I have not been offered any jobs formally, but several ministers have asked me to consider taking a role.’
He insisted he can make a positive contribution without being in government. Mr Thomas told the Examiner that he had never worked for the Department of Education and Children but had been employed as a principal lecturer at the International Business School from 2001 when he first moved to the island, teaching financial regulation and compliance management.
In 2004, he was dismissed for alleged gross misconduct, he confirmed. ‘I wasn’t sacked,’ he insisted, adding that he was made subject to a gagging order. It is understood he was accused of acting as a consultant. Following an internal disciplinary procedure he was reinstated but subsequently made redundant. Subsequently Mr Thomas applied for the job of director of the IBS but took a case to tribunal when the position was given instead to Professor Gerald Watts who had required a work permit.
In the Keys Mr Thomas had asked Mr Crookall why his department had fewer departmental members than in January last year when the then Minister Peter Karran formed a team comprising Zac Hall, John Houghton and Dudley Butt MLC. Now there are just two members and the Minister said he could see no justification for increasing the political membership, pointing out other large departments only have two. Speaking to the Examiner, Mr Thomas said his preference was for a role in Education, Health or the Treasury.
He said he had been approached by Social Care Minister Chris Robertshaw about a role. But he said: ‘The conditions didn’t seem to be ones that are acceptable. I’m still in discussion with the Minister.’
He said: ‘An MHK can contribute to government without being in government. It is only a myth that you cannot. Any MHK can work in a positive way to enhance policy, as I have started to do with the island’s cost of living, transport strategy and Douglas development, amongst other things. I have asked questions to get better policy.
‘A good question makes officers and the Minister think about what they are doing. Questions and policy development are linked.
‘The Chief Minister knows my technical experience, and he is aware of my willingness to take on any assignment for which my pension/bond/financial analysis background would make me suitable but which is not contradictory to my manifesto policies. I would turn down any political role to do something I did not agree with or which seemed a contrived role, without clear responsibility.
‘What is the point of being a departmental member if you are not contributing in any meaningful way to determining policy, promoting legislation or regulation, or allocating departmental expenditure or budget?’
Mr Thomas said he was a member of the Health Services Consultative Committee when he was elected in May. He said Health Minister David Anderson knows he would accept a role in his department.
Mr Crookall said he didn’t wish to expand on the answers he gave to the House of Keys.