Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives Phillip Paulwell has sought to quash media reports which surfaced yesterday that a meeting purportedly called by Opposition leader and People’s National Party (PNP) President Portia Simpson Miller to discuss the selection of a shadow Cabinet had descended into chaos as members pothered over the chairing of the meeting.

Initial reports were that the discord had arisen because members felt Paulwell should not have been put in charge of the meeting.

Minutes after that report was aired Paulwell, in an interview on Nationwide News, staunchly denied that any such thing had occurred.

He insisted that it was he who had called a meeting at the PNP’s Old Hope Road headquarters to discuss the composition of various parliamentary committees. Paulwell said that at no time was the meeting intended to discuss appointments to the Opposition’s spokespersons council.

“I decided that I would ask the colleagues in the Lower House to join me, to look at a number of things related to Parliament. We have a number of committees that the Opposition will have to chair. We wanted to get a sense from the colleagues [on] what will be our attitude, how we will approach our business as Opposition parliamentarians. It was known to everybody; we had full attendance at the meeting this morning, apart from our leader, who is not well, and Omar Davies, who is also not well — everybody else attended,” Paulwell told senior journalist Cliff Hughes and his Nationwide@5 co-host Dennis Brooks.

He further argued that the spokespersons had not yet been determined. “That was not a relevant item today,” he stated, denying that he had indicated to individuals what positions they would be appointed to on the spokespersons council.

He emphasised that the selection of the shadow Cabinet was solely in the remit of Simpson Miller, and that it would be “totally unheard of” for him to be speaking to that matter.

That meeting was held even whilst the new Administration convened its first Cabinet meeting at Jamaica House as the governing party.

Meanwhile, political historian and analyst Troy Caine named Dr Peter Phillips and son Mikael Phillips, Julian Robinson, Natalie Neita Headley, Dr Fenton Ferguson, and Dr Wykeham McNeill as likely front-runners for positions on the council. He noted that another parliamentarian who could take prominence is Fitz Jackson, who, he said, deserves to now be brought forward from the back benches.

Caine told the Jamaica Observer that it was not clear whether Kingston Central MP Ronald Thwaites would want to be in the spotlight, but that Manchester Southern MP Michael Stewart was a likely candidate for the education portfolio, should Thwaites wish to step back.

“The party should now retire people like (St Catherine North Western MP) Bobby Pickersgill… Denise Daley could be used a little bit more… [Horace] Dalley [and] Bunting may still be there if he still wants, [because] sometimes you get the impression that Peter Bunting has other interests than politics,” Caine said.

At the same time, he said a spokesperson position is most likely in the offing for Lisa Hanna, as well as Dr Morais Guy, particularly in light of the ill-health of St Andrew Southern MP Dr Omar Davies.

“I don’t see people like [Richard] Azan and [Noel] Arscott in that kind of light, but I suppose they are good party people,” he said. Caine observed that there is no specific time frame for an opposition leader to name spokespersons. “In the past, many leaders have staggered their approach to appointing. I recall [Edward] Seaga used to be very guilty of doing that, [and] sometimes they don’t give their entire list.”