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Michael W. Torode was the second Chief Minister of Guernsey. [1] He was voted in by the States of Deliberation on 5 March 2007 and his term expired on 30 April 2008.
The Chief Minister of Guernsey chaired the Policy Council, which consists of the heads of each of the ten departments of the States of Guernsey. Guernsey operates a system of consensus, committees-based government. The Policy Council is explicitly not a cabinet and has relatively little executive authority compared to a cabinet; instead, its main function is policy co-ordination. The Chief Minister also spoke for the island externally in political matters.
Torode succeeded Laurie Morgan following the Fallagate scandal that led to the whole Policy Council of Guernsey resigning en masse in February 2007. Prior to being Chief Minister, Torode's government position was that of Minister of Home Affairs.
Laurie Morgan was a Deputy of the States of Guernsey. He was Guernsey's first Chief Minister and was elected to the post in May 2004. His term of office was due to expire in 2008, when the next General Election was due. It was announced on 31 January 2007 that the Chief Minister and the Policy Council were to resign.
Fallagate was a political scandal in Guernsey in 2007, over the desire by Deputies of the States of Deliberation to appear corruption free. The desire to appear corruption free cost the island's 40000 tax payers £60 each, and the resulting scandal led to the resignation of Laurie Morgan, the then Chief Minister of Guernsey, and the Policy Council, a committee of the States.
Guernsey operates a system of government by committees and consensus. There are no political parties - members of the parliament, which is known as the States of Deliberation, are elected as independents. The States of Deliberation is both parliament and executive, but it delegates some of its executive functions to policy-specific committees, which are known as States Departments, each of which is run by five political members, all of whom have equal voting power.
Torode has been a member of the States of Guernsey since 1979. He was initially a Deputy representing St. Martin and later a Conseiller, elected bailiwick-wide. He was latterly a Deputy representing the South East electoral district.
The States of Guernsey is the parliament of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guernsey also apply to Alderney and Sark as "Bailiwick-wide legislation" with the consent of the governments of those islands. All enactments of the States of Guernsey apply to Herm as well as Guernsey, since Herm is wholly owned by the States of Guernsey.
