The predecessor of the present day Council of Ministers was called the ’Executive Council’.

Established in 1949 and chaired by various Lieutenant Governors.

Ultimately and correctly, however, it was chaired by a Tynwald member.

Between 1961 and 1967 Sir Charles Kerruish, 67-71 by Norman Crowe, 71-77 Percy Radcliffe, 77-81 Clifford Irving, 81-85 Percy Radcliffe and briefly in 1986 by Dr Edgar Mann.

When Miles Walker became Chief Minister after the 1986 General Election he chaired the council which was renamed Council of Ministers in 1990. Presently it constitutes eight ministers and the Chief Minister.

Between 1986 and 2021 the island has had six Chief Ministers with one, Donald Gelling, presiding twice and last week in a change to the voting procedure Alfred Cannan was elected over Dr Alex Allinson as the seventh holder of the top political office in our island.

The difference being that for the first time Tynwald Court was not the electorate.

The House of Keys, the directly elected by the public branch, confirmed the election.

There was a requirement for a simple majority of 13 votes from the 24 members and Alf obtained 14 to the eight received by Alex with two members voting for neither candidate at the initial stage.

Some people still hanker after the old board system of politics but the ministerial system provides, in theory at least, more public accountability from Ministers with whom the buck stops.

A very well respected former chairman of Executive Council, the late Percy Radcliffe, described the previous set up as 24 unguided missiles.

Both of the candidates in the recent election proposed adjustments to collective responsibility rules which already had some built-in flexibility for ministers on constituency, manifesto and pre-determined policy issues.

Ultimately though in order to make progress on the big issues facing our island some discipline is required.

Our previous Chief Ministers were firstly Miles Walker between 1986 and 1996. He was a member of Arbory Commissioners between 1970 and 1976 when he was first elected as an MHK for Rushen. Then between 1981 and 1990 he served on the executive council and he had chaired the local government board between 1981 and 1986. He retired from Tynwald in 2001.

Donald Gelling had been a commissioner in Santon between 1961 and 1986, being chairman five times before being elected to the House of Keys in 1986 for Malew and Santon.

He went on to be Minister for Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry between 1988 and 1989, Treasury between 1989 and 1996 then Chief Minister after the 1996 General Election until 2001. He returned after the resignation of Richard Corkill between 2004 and 2006.

He was then a Member of the Legislative Council and so uniquely is the only Chief Minister from that branch of Tynwald.

Richard Corkill was one of the MHKs for Onchan between 1991 and 2006.

He had previously been an Onchan Commissioner between 1988 and 1991 and served as Minister for Home Affairs (1995-1996), Treasury (1996 to 2001) and Chief Minister after the 2001 General Election until 2004.

A very young Tony Brown first stood for Castletown commissioners in 1976 serving as its chair in 1980.

He was elected as the town’s MHK in 1981 and was Minister of Health and Social Security between 1986 and 1989, Local Government and the Environment (1989-1994), Tourism and Leisure between 1994 and 1996 and Transport (1996-2001).

He was unsuccessful at his first attempt to become Speaker but took the role from David Cannan in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006.

The vote for Chief Minister between Steve Rodan, John Shimmin and David Cannan failed to obtain a result and Tony was put forward as Chief Minister candidate.

He enjoyed the Speaker’s role and was very good at standing orders and procedures but, as with most members, he was prepared to fulfil whichever role it was felt he should and was elected unopposed with 27 Tynwald votes.

Allan Bell served as a Ramsey commissioner between 1977 and 1984 when he was elected to Tynwald in a by-election.

He had stood unsuccessfully in the 1976 General Election as a Mec Vannin candidate.

He went on to be Minister of Tourism and Transport between 1986 and 1990, Tourism, Leisure and Transport (1990-1994), Industry between 1991 and 1996, Home Affairs (96-01), Treasury between 2001 and 2010, Economic Development 10-11 and Chief Minister between 2011 and 2016.

Howard Quayle was elected to the House of Keys for Middle in 2011 and again in 2016.

He served as Minister for Health and Social care between 2014-2016 and has just completed his five-year term as Chief Minister during what many would describe as unprecedented circumstances in modern times latterly covering for Lawrence Skelly at the Department of Enterprise after his election as President.

In the 2016 election Tynwald had a choice between Kate Beecroft, Alf Cannan and Howard Quayle who, once successful, moved to take both members into his cabinet.

The two candidates this time around were, as we know, Alf Cannan and Dr Alex Allinson.

Both produced election for Chief Minister manifestos for their electorate and the people to consider.

Alf was first elected in 2011 and served as Treasury Minister for the five years of the outgoing administration.

Alex had been a Ramsey commissioner between 2008 and 2016 until elected to the House of Keys for Ramsey in 2016 and had served since 2020 as Education, Sport and Culture Minister.

In his Chief Minister manifesto Alf recognised the need to engage across the community, respect other opinions, challenge where necessary and strive for success.

Alex aimed to reset government’s relationship with the media, improve communication with our community and re-establish face-to-face briefings to ensure adequate public scrutiny.

In the opinion of many I speak to one of the issues, with a few notable exceptions, was the reluctance to properly engage with the media at the appropriate level.

This is the Isle of Man with members you can meet in the street and have their telephone numbers in the directory not the semi-anonymous situation that occurs other jurisdictions.

Alf warned about the burdensome gas price increases and the need to protect the burden on vulnerable and low-income groups.

Alex spoke about inter-generational fairness and referred to the imminent childcare strategy group report on the provision of affordable and accessible pre-school care for all.

Both candidates made pledges to move the minimum wage to match the living wage.

Both referred to the big election issue of housing which has failed to be addressed by the outgoing administration.

The same applies to the other unaddressed issue of the unfairness of residential and nursing care for older people. Alex boldly stated within 100 days a new administration must bring in a reform of the rates system.

This is another unresolved issue and it will be interesting to see what progress the new administration make.

Alf stated: ’There is now a chance for a new Council of Ministers to take a more open, focused and better informed approach with listening leadership and welcoming of outside input and scrutiny.’

If this leads to a less defensive and centralised, more open, leadership I welcome this approach and wish all those involved well.

As the author in 2011 of the concept of a ’Government of National Unity’ which unfortunately failed then, and since, the pledges of all members to play their part either in government or in scrutiny to help ensure the best outcomes is a positive start.