Willoughby Marries Political Rival’s Daughter; Removed as Standard Bearer

Former Port Loyola Representative, Anthony “Boots” Martinez has been making strides to get the P.U.P. Area Representative in that area, Gilroy Usher removed through the court system. The U.D.P. had Phillip Willoughby as its standard bearer in the area since Usher’s victory. But the party is looking for someone else to represent it at the next general elections. That’s because during a recent meeting of the U.D.P.’s leadership and executive bodies, a decision was taken to remove Willoughby from that position. Willoughby recently got married, and reports are that it was Barrow who sponsored the wedding rings. But the person who Willoughby married is the daughter of his political rival in Port Loyola, Gilroy Usher. And when the news broke it came to the party leader as a surprise. Today, Leader of the Opposition Barrow said that this revelation, along with Willoughby omitting that bit of information when he shared the news is something he should not have done. 

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“The decision was not a unilateral decision at all by any means, but I certainly was disheartened. I was disappointed because I had stood up for Mr. Willoughby when he received massive criticism after the extremely poor performance, very much in the municipals, and I was going to stick with him and see him through to the general elections. But, when the news came out, coupled with the omission, you saw the information that he mentioned everything except that it was the daughter of his opponent, which I would think, definitely something he would want to tell the leader of his party. And regardless of whether I was generous or not to help him with the wedding ring I would. I think as the leader of the party, it would certainly be something, if you’re telling me that you’re getting married, you might want to mention that part. But I took the matter to the cabinet, because he used to serve in the cabinet, and unanimous, everybody said that there’s a conflict of interest there. This is not – I’m not saying that Philip is a bad person, or, I don’t, I’m not here to condemn him or crucify him, I’m just saying there’s a conflict there. And we can’t take the risk. It’s just a matter of risk management. And certainly, all of us feel that omitting the information definitely casts a cloud of suspicion that just cannot be removed because, like, why?

 

We don’t even understand why you did it. We don’t even understand anything about it. Like, you said, it’s unprecedented. But if there were a benefit of the doubt to be given, it would have been given at that point. And he could have said, this is what it is, man. Please understand. This da Romeo and Juliet and walk me mentally through it so that when we got to that point, I would have stood up for him possibly, the way that I stood up for him on the other situations where he was under attack but there was nothing that I could do. I call him Philco, I called him, and told him do the right thing brother, nuh put the party through this. I’m not upset, with Phillip I don’t have any grievances with Philip. Maybe he does with me, but I don’t have any problem. I wish them well, and I’m happy to have contributed to the wedding ring, and I hope that they live happily ever after.”