Won’t stand for it

“I am not here to help the Government per se; I am not here to be neutral either,” Member of Parliament for St Peter, Owen Arthur declared yesterday, minutes before taking his seat on the Government front bench as a newly Independent MP.
The upbeat former prime minister was one of the first parliamentarians to arrive for the morning sitting of the Lower Chamber amid speculation about where he would sit, following his resignation last month from the Barbados Labour Party.
“I will not allow myself to be used as a divisive force . . . but I will not allow myself to be humiliated,” he told reporters before disappearing up the steps of Parliament. (GC)