ROTHESAY — Governor Sir Geoffrey Marsden has formally appointed Stephen Cameron as Premier after Ethan McAllister resigned.
Cameron will lead the first majority government in New Ulster’s history — but also the first to not be directly elected by the voters.
Following his appointment, the new Premier acknowledged the extraordinary circumstance of his appointment but promised to ‘work to heal the divisions’ caused by the changeover.
Cameron’s predecessor McAllister, leader of the Liberal Conservative Party, served as New Ulster’s first premier from early August. His party fell 1 seat short of a majority at that month’s general election and he went on to lead a minority government.
However, the LibCons proved unable to govern effectively with their minority — a situation worsened by the Speaker of House, Autumn Hunter, controversially crossing the floor and joining the Democratic Party of Stephen Cameron.
Hunter was one of two independent (that is, unaffiliated) MPs elected in August: the other, Clara Hennigan, today followed Hunter in joining Cameron’s Dems.
Hennigan’s defection gave the opposition Democratic Party 4 of the 7 seats in the House — more seats than the incumbent minority government — making McAllister’s position as premier untenable.
Earlier this evening, McAllister met with the Governor for around 40 minutes; a longer than usual amount of time. The exact details of the discussion are unlikely to be made public but the LibCon leader would likely have advised the Governor of all the constitutional (and political) options and their outcomes. In reality, however, McAllister had only two choices: resign or request a dissolution of parliament (i.e. call an election).
With neither side of the House keen on a new election just 3 months after the last, McAllister chose to go without a messy fight. Announcing his resignation after meeting the Governor, the outgoing premier said he would ‘honour our parliamentary system’ and ‘give way’ to the opposition. He added, however, that he would be ‘holding the new government’s feet to the fire’.
What happened — and when?
Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once quipped ‘a week is a long time in politics’. New Ulster seems to have been determined to beat that timescale, switching governments in little over 10 hours.
This is how the dramatic day unfolded; but first let’s set the scene:
- Aug 2: Ethan McAllister is appointed Premier
- Aug 17: McAllister calls NU’s first election for Aug 30
- Aug 19: Stephen Cameron and Eloise Penner launch the Democratic Party
- Aug 24: Ethan McAllister launches the Liberal Conservative Party
- Aug 30: McAllister’s LibCons fall short of a majority, winning 3 of the 7 seats in the House
- Sept 1: LibCons form minority government
- Oct 19: Speaker Autumn Hunter MP crosses the floor and joins the opposition Democratic Party, bringing Dem numbers from 2 to 3 — level with the LibCons
With that, let’s take a closer look at how today unfolded:
- 10am: independent MP Clara Hennigan announces she has ‘crossed the floor’ (i.e. switched allegiance) and joined the Democratic Party
- this gave the Democratic Party 4 of 7 seats — a majority — in the House of Assembly
- 3pm: Premier Ethan McAllister convenes the Cabinet to discuss situation in the House
- 4.30pm: McAllister meets Governor Sir Geoffrey Marsden
- 5.15pm: Premier McAllister announces he is resigning and will ‘give way’ to opposition leader Stephen Cameron
- 6pm: Stephen Cameron is appointed Premier by His Excellency the Governor
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