DR. PETER Phillips, the Minister of National Security and vice-president of the People's National Party (PNP), has secured a strong team of high-profile Cabinet ministers to support his campaign for leadership of the governing party as soon as Prime Minister P.J. Patterson steps down.
The Gleaner has learned that Dr. Paul Robertson, another PNP vice-president, will be heading the campaign team with the assistance of former general secretary Maxine Henry-Wilson, who is the Minister of Education.
"He's putting a good team of formidable persons together," a source close to Dr. Phillips told The Gleaner yesterday. According to the source, that team will also include former Agriculture Minister Horace Clarke, who has assisted Dr. Phillips before in his race for the PNP vice-presidency.
ASPIRANTS FOR LEADERSHIP
Prime Minister Patterson has long maintained that he will not be going up for re-election at the next general election, which is constitutionally due by 2007. The prospect of Mr. Patterson's retirement after more than 10 years of leading the party and the nation has spurred speculation about the likely next leader of the PNP.
If another party leader is selected before the next general election, then the country will immediately be introduced to its seventh Prime Minister.
Among the supposed aspirants for the party leadership are Portia Simpson Miller, Dr. Phillips, Dr. Omar Davies and Robert Pickersgill. But according to a Gleaner-commissioned Don Anderson poll, published on Monday, Mrs. Simpson Miller is seen by the public as the party's next leader. She leads the polls (52 per cent) with strong support through all segments of the society compared to Dr. Phillips (22 per cent), who has support from mostly upper-income earners.
However, who wins the leadership of the PNP will depend on who garners the strongest support from its delegates. Last year, Mrs. Simpson Miller came out with the most votes of the four elected vice-presidents of the party. Dr. Phillips, who beat Mrs. Simpson-Miller a year earlier, came in with the second highest total.
Yesterday Mrs. Henry-Wilson, who was earlier this year caught on camera berating Mrs. Simpson Miller, was unwilling to disclose her role in the upcoming leadership race.
"I wouldn't say no," the former PNP general secretary said when asked if she was a part of Dr. Phillips' team. "When the time comes we will decide."
