Bob Richards Named New Deputy Premier
Premier Michael Dunkley announced today that he has appointed Minister of Finance Bob Richards as the Deputy Premier.
Premier Dunkley said this morning, “I am pleased to appoint Minister Richards as Deputy Premier.
“We certainly have a wealth and depth of talent among our team, and I am gratified at the level of support expressed by my colleagues for Minister Richards.
“He has demonstrated a strength of knowledge and leadership, and he has proven over the years that he is an innovative thinker.
“Minister Richards has never shied away from making the tough decisions,” added the Premier.
“He’s tackled difficult matters such as the economy, Government’s deficit and debt positions and has sought to find meaningful solutions to assist in getting Bermuda back on track.”
Minister Richards’ appointment takes immediate effect.
Good to see Minister Richards moving up the ladder in his father’s footsteps, positive outcome from a strong Minister.
so the oba went from a black face out front to a black face as the as back up man
We continue to wait for Zane DeSilva to be appointed Deputy Opposition Leader. He certainly has proven his worth to the PLP in more ways than one, and could do a far better job than Burgess.
However, DeSilva is serving his purpose and is unlikely to gain further promotion. The reason for this should be obvious to all.
I just see a face, a familiar face that has Bermudas best interests at heart. You need to get off the racial thing and look at the bigger picture or you will be enslaved in your own mind.
grow up frank
Ha! Race card played. Irrelevant.
So you are saying that this has nothing to do with the fact that he is one top OBA MP’s, is intelligent and hard working and has developed more of an actual economic plan for Bermuda than we have seen from the PLP in 15 and half years.
You want this surrogate notion to be true, because without the big bad white domination, inner circle, boogeyman to blame, you might have to actually blame the PLP or yourself.
Bob Richards is certainly one of the best talents the OBA has, worth more to this country than most of the PLP shadow cabinet and MP’s combined, but you need the comfort of your boogeyman, we understand.
Good move for OBA and Bermuda.
Good move UBP love the master plan. Can you win the next election is the question?
Congratulations Mr. Richards! @ dislikes, at least ours can count, yours couldn’t!
Awesome the OBA Government has now taken the bull by the horns with forward thinking Leadership for a better Bermuda.
I know this is a sarcastic comment if ever I read one!!! Forward thinking?? Dunkley I can see, Richards- haaaaahhhhhaaaaaa! The man is self-serving so I guess that’s forward thinking…for himself.
Please don’t hand over Finance to someone else, or become too stretched to be effective.
This man is so out of touch with the needs of Bermudians making him Deputy will only plunge those in need in deeper despair. Hey Bob, instead of helping the Banks take people’s homes why not help the people???
@’not a good fit’—you’re not a good fit for our society with your hatred.
What I expressed isn’t hatred, it’s a fact. Mr. Richards went on national television and said there is nothing wrong with Clarien Bank raising the interest rate on mortgages of existing employees, which in reality meant some could possibly lose their homes. So pardon my for seeking assistance for Bermudians who are losing their homes because of current banking practices supported by Uncle Bob.
I was given the impression that the employee compensation was simply moved to another form to be consistent with their Company world wide policies.
No company suddenly drops it’s ongoing employees in it so they lose their home to their employer.
I think you misunderstood what actually happened.
That’s how it was disguised. And if I misunderstood, so did the lady who lost her home due to the new rates, which meant she couldn’t afford the new mortgage payments- which increased by $3,000.
Do you know this lady personally? Have you seen the actual proof of this statement? Or is this more “I heard that someone once…”
Please, the same can be said about almost everything else that commenters spew cross the net.
Now now..asking for evidence..don’t let facts get in the way of a good rant
You’re saying an employee had mortgage bigger than $3,000,000?
Because that’s how big it would have to be to make a $3,000 a month difference in mortgage subsidy.
Wow. That’s a high class problem. Bank tellers with $3m mortgages.
I have to question exactly what her mortgage rate was if it increased by $3000, the former CapG employee rate discount was only around 2%, so if her rate increased by $3000, what was she paying before and what position did she hold that allowed her to be able to pay that rate, because it certainly wouldn’t have even been in middle management? CapG wouldn’t even give an employee a mortgage if they couldn’t pay the in-discounted rate, something tells me there are other details to your story that aren’t being told, like whether it is actually true or not.
MP Richards has a long history of being right on the big economic issues going back to 2007 he was warning us.
He will do well for Bermuda in these troubling times.
a predictable internal move
the real test is whether the old UBP guard is electable at the next general election
@js, gee!! Who would want to go back to the days of almost no debt, 110% employment and most Bermudians having the money to travel multiple times a year??? My god, you plper’s are stupid!!!?
What a horrible thought. Imagine that! No $250,000.00 per day needed to cover debt. No debt worth speaking of really. Balanced budgets. A job for everyone who wanted to work.
Nope, don’t want to go back to that.
Go. Ubp go !! Happy happy happy
@ Robert, call it what you want, its still WAY better than the PLP.
Congratulations to Minister Bob Richards on a well deserved position. He is an intelligent and capable minister who has the interest of Bermuda and its people at heart. The OBA has a strong team and can move the Island forward, despite the negative and nasty antics of the PLP. Bob’s father would be very proud of him ……………..
@moonbeam–nicely said. Agree 100%!
Well if these guys can’t do it nobody can.
They need all bermudians full support.
We can get this island back on track together.
bob is out of touch with the real mr and mrs Bermuda go up to the house and listen to his rude sarcastic comments one view he has is that it is alright for none Bermudians to have the low paying jobs that Bermudians need he just assumes that Bermudians don’t apply the guy thinks Bermudians are stupid
the talent pool in the oba/ubp is very small
I think a lot of people will disagree with you. Bob R is a realist and a lot of Bermudians don’t want to hear the cold hard truth. Money doesn’t just grow on trees its driven by International Business and Tourism. It the last 14 years didn’t show you that then you deserve exactly what you want. If you think Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda have it hard now, just wait. I wish I could wave a magic want and give you exactly what you want for an entire year and hear you scream about how Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda are hard done by and why didn’t to Gov. do anything to fix it when they could. SMH
Frank. You don’t know what your taking about.
How would you create jobs?
You are truly clueless.
The people of Bermuda were warned many times if the government continued on its path of over spending and lack of accountability we as a country would end up in this mess. All your good at doing is blaming other people, truth is your probably getting paid by someone right now while your reading this. Switch off your phone and put your head down and earn your keep or you are part of the problem.
Lol! Talent pool is small. Name one person in the PLP who has the Professional and Political experience that Bob Richards has? No one comes close.
David Burt has a degree from a second rate institution in IT. Hence why he was investigated for allegedly selling illegal Swizzle, would you rather him run the economy? Lol
The problem with the PLP that they think all you need is to talk slick, use a few big words and be loyal to the party. Tick those boxes and you have intellectually what it takes to run the country. Well we call know how that ended up! Unsustainable Debt and a list as long as your arm of corruption.
No frank. You, Bean and the other racist xenophobes are the ones out of touch. Most of us are just looking for the best for our families. Bean is only interested in power. He doesn’t want to see Bermuda succeed. In fact he hates the idea, because it would weaken the PLP politically. He wants to perpetuate poverty and division.
Frank when are you going to contribute to Bermuda ? Are yo afraid of Bob succeeding ?
The photo op king “I made it very clear”, “the people know me”, made it very clear to Bob who’s the Head Bigger in Charge.
Signed – Bottom feeders!
Without any question – Bob Richards was the Best Choice — some my see it as a blow for the PLP or and election ploy
but I see it as a big step for the redevelopment of Bermuda. – the big question is : will his vision of Bermuda be on the same page
as the PLP base,The opposition Leadership, and the BIU. — Wishing Mr. Bob Richards plenty of luck and patience because he’s going to
need it in this present political climate. —but I believe he can hold his own.
The OBA has just strengthened there mid field and strikers can the PLP’s defense get though them.
This is interesting. Firstly there is no official position as Deputy Premier. This title is usually given to the Deputy Leader of the Governing Party. Which brings me to my next point – when was Mr. Richards selected Deputy leader of the OBA? Was the membership of the OBA able to vote for this position?
The language says he was appointed. If so, by whom?
Well said.
What advice did the Cabinet Secretary tell (or advise) the Premier about all this and does this position allow or change any interaction with the Civil Service apparatus?
If its only a ceremonial position then does it mean that if Premier Dunkley resigns Minister Richards automatically becomes Premier!
Isn’t that how Mr. Dunkley just became Premier or am I mistaken?
Mr Dunkley became Premier because he was appointed Interim OBA Leader, and was able to show the Governor that he had the confidence of all the OBA MPs, which by default gives him the majority of the Parliament.
I do believe he is supposed to be voted on in June or July to be confirmed as Leader though.
Got it, thanks
I see we have some “SOUR GRAPES here!
Because the PLP/BIU have left the next Generation $2.5Billion dollar “DEBT” and climbing.With a declining ecconomy for the (6) Sixth year,”HUGE TAXES” and having to borrow $276Million per year to “FEED” the “BLOOS SUCKING CIVIL SERVICE”
We have more people on the Goverment pay-check than we have working in Private enterprize.
Mr Richards is the man to help us get out of this mess over the long haul.
You did see that the US ECCONOMY SHRUNK BY 3% in the first three months of the year.Suggest you think about that.
Bluebird, Is that true that we have more people on Gov paychecks than work in the Private sector? If so that’s scary and should be made more clear to the public because it’s a lot worse than I thought and is clearly not something that is sustainable
This is good news. Bob Richards will be able to ensure that Michael Dunkley knows what he needs to know in order to efficiently serve Bermuda.
I don’t care….I don’t care who runs the island, except that its the best person for the job. If Richards isn’t a good pick, I guess Ms. Cox or Dr. Brown were more suitable?
For the record, my comment isn’t an assault against Mr Richards but this is a severe departure from precedent where the Premier appoints a Deputy Premier. I don’t think this has ever been done before. And it begs the question why now?
Black; White or Chinese; Mr. Richards still won’t get my political support; he is conservative and is a part of the anti-Bermudian OBA
government.
By the way the economic Guru that he is; I like for him to attend an international economic conference to do with the world’s recent economic crisis that effected most economies in the western world and claim that Bermuda alone was effected entirely due to internal factors?
Nobody said that Alvin. The fact is, though, that most countries were in and out of recession in 12 – 15 months, including the ones that are our main trading partners. That’s a fact, like it or not, Alvin.
Bermuda has been in recession for 6 years solid.
When Bob Richards was warning about the impending recession, the PLP response was ‘you’re making mischief’, ‘stop trying to alarm people’ and ‘you don’t understand – Bermuda is different’.
Total incompetence.
Gee alvin, I bet you supported Dr Martin Luther King didn’t you??? Well this may come as a big stock to you but, he was a registered Republican!!! I can only assume now you will do the correct thing and stop supporting what he believed in????
Idiot
@evie, idiot? Why don’t you do some research and come back and apologize?
How can you attack Richards and not support his commitment to the financial health of the country; and you impute him as anti-Bermudian when he is more Bermudian than most!
What does he believe in that is so threatening to you.
Would you support him if he was PLP?
Is your issue that your supporters are for establishing an even more regulated modern socialist state on Bermudians who just want to be free of past government bondage.
He may be your best (certainly the best qualified and internationally well respected) shot at financially moving the country forward. Wish him success not failure.