Jamaica in bid to lead British Commonwealth

Only last month Jamaica's prime minister used a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to announce that his country would be “moving on” and removing the Queen as head of state.

Andrew Holness's comments about “unresolved” issues between Jamaica and the U.K. were so forthright they raised questions about whether the country would leave the Commonwealth.

Now, in an unexpected twist, Jamaica has announced it is putting forward its foreign minister to stand for election as the next Commonwealth secretary general. To add further intrigue, the minister in question, Kamina Johnson-Smith, was one of the dignitaries who met the Duke and Duchess during their tour, raising questions about exactly what they discussed.

By convention, the current Commonwealth secretary general, Baroness Scotland, would be standing unopposed, as the organization has never challenged an incumbent seeking a second four-year term.

But rumours have swirled for years that the government wants to oust the Labour peer, who has been embroiled in a series of controversies since taking office in 2016.

Delano Franklyn, a former foreign minister of Jamaica, suggested the Duke of Cambridge might have been used as a back channel by the government to encourage Johnson-Smith to stand.

The U.K. currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Commonwealth, and Franklyn said: “As chairman of the Commonwealth, Boris Johnson is doing everything to ensure that he has a secretary general of the Commonwealth who will fall in line with the thinking of British Conservative politics.”

Lady Scotland, a former attorney general, has been accused of spending almost $50,000 redecorating her apartment in Mayfair, as well as facing allegations she offered a contract to another Labour peer by circumventing the usual tendering process. She denied wrongdoing in both cases.

Replacing Dominican-born Lady Scotland with a Jamaican head could also have the advantage of keeping Jamaica in the Commonwealth fold.