Selected to command the newly formed French Ninth Army against the invading German forces in World War I, at one point General Ferdinand Foch saw his forces crumbling around him in disarray against the German military might. Unfazed, he declared famously in a message to his French army counterparts: “My centre is yielding. My right is retreating. Situation excellent, I am attacking.” For the language purists, “Mon centre cede, ma droite recule, situation excellente, J’attaque.”

A similar situation and circumstance seems to be facing the People’s National Party (PNP), if I am reading correctly into their press briefing held last week Tuesday when they expressed, to put it mildly, their concerns about the budget. On the surface of it, the PNP was not yet fully au fait (pardon my French) with the status of the new budget. But, according to them, nothing seemed to have been settled regarding an International Monetary Fund approval or conformity “with the agreement arrived with the Fund”.

Valid criticisms and questions were brought to the table including the adequacy of the expenditure side of the budget, and claims that the “recurrent side raises deep concerns about the viability of the budget overall”.

Obviously these and other questions should be answered when the budget debate opens next month, and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will no doubt be happy to have been given a premonition on what’s on the minds of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition at this time.

Penetrative issues being raised at this time are par for the course, and the Opposition has every right and duty to raise these issues as an early response to the statement made by Finance Minister Audley Shaw as he presented the Estimates of Expenditure at the ceremonial opening of Parliament on April 14.

What took me by surprise was the anger that built up as the briefing moved from polite opening statements to a proper tongue lashing, as the main speakers — Dr Peter Phillips, party leader Portia Simpson Miller, Peter Bunting, and Anthony Hylton — launched what journalists like to call a “scathing attack”.

Was this a case of “my centre not holding, my right is retreating, I have been outflanked on either side, but j’attaque?”

Foch’s declaration was seen as a symbol of leadership and determination to resist the invader at all costs. His counter-attack was an implementation of a fightback theory when outflanked on all sides.

The Opposition leader joined the fray: “We will defend our legacy and policies and our programmes.” In fact, we were told that each member of the Opposition council of spokespersons will defend the PNP’s legacy in their respective portfolio areas.

Defence is sometimes the best form of attack. The JLP had better not form the fool, as j’attaque has come quite early in the day. If the briefing was meant to be an adaptation of General Foch’s strategy, it worked, as those swings taken by Dr Phillips seemed to have mulled the Government into silence for the time being, save for a hearty and what seemed a logical response from Information Minister Ruel Reid.

“We reject those notions (about the Government not having any clear idea or plan for economic management, growth, or sustainable development). It is so premature,” tut-tutted Senator Reid. “We have not even commenced the Budget Debate, and I really don’t see how we can be arguing about continuation of policies as they claim we are doing.”

Now the information minister may or not be the last man to know when the Budget Debate will begin, but he is right on track and in sync with television viewers who watched incredulously as the press briefing questioned the credibility of a budget that has not even been given a chance to pass the people’s test.

Those of us on the other side of the television screen must wonder if there is more to the PNP press briefing than j’attaque. For one thing, Simpson Miller was flanked by Anthony Hylton on the right, and Dr Phillips on her left. No need to yield to the enemy when you have these two at your side. And with Peter Bunting making up a third, the situation, as General Foch said, is excellent. But where, we asked, were the old-timers who normally man these press conferences, the venerable Chairman Robert Pickersgill, the energetic Phillip Paulwell, and the urbanite K D Knight? Missing in action, but so early?

Were we to be reading anything into this defence regarding a changing of the guard? And wasn’t it refreshing to see the party leader back on the podium, and demanding — if I heard right — that political party promises should be kept?

It is very clear that the Opposition has taken off the gloves and is back in the ring. With a one-seat minority, they are clearly stepping up the tempo and looking space in the parish council elections to come, as well as marking out territory in case of a possible sooner-than-later general election.

This is going to keep the JLP on its toes. It has been making too many faux pas (there goes my French again), for example, the overloading of ministerial responsibilities on Ruel Reid’s shoulders, the Nicodemus-style swearing in of Everald Warmington, the tendency for ministers to make what appears to be spontaneous announcements which ‘play up’ as Cabinet decisions, the push back on promised dates for income tax relief, the ability to convince us that they can stem the crime wave.

As a young Government, however, they maintain a spirited approach to governance and a convincing, likeable and confident leadership style emanating from the prime minister himself, who is articulate, positive, and very much in charge.

It’s obviously more difficult for the PNP than the JLP to lose an election. The PNP convinced themselves that this is PNP country. This is not speculative opinion by any means. It is based on statements made at every level of the party. It is also based on the origins of the party, which was founded as a movement more than an organisation, and with the clear aim of achieving self-government for Jamaica.

The JLP has no such claim. It was founded more as an opportunistic party centred on one man’s popularity and achievements as the nation’s most accomplished labour leader. It took a while for Bustamante to show a disposition towards self-government.

Nevertheless, it is ironic that, although the PNP grew up around its mission to achieve independent status, it was the JLP’s L G Newland that first moved a motion, in 1961, at the height of the Federation controversy, to reject a report brought from Manley in England to further Federation status, and to “request Her Majesty’s Government to take the necessary steps to introduce legislation to grant Jamaica Independence on May 23, 1962, and to seek admission for Jamaica in the British Commonwealth as a dominion”.

As George Eaton puts it in his biography on Bustamante: “Though largely inspired by referendum strategy, the JLP motion still stands as a landmark in Jamaica’s political history. It awarded Bustamante the credit for being the first to call for Jamaican Independence in absolute terms of immediacy — a claim consistently agonising to Manley and the PNP frontiersmen, whose declared objective of full self-government had, in the stormy days, been reviled by the Government as seditious.”

In fact, the PNP Administration was forced to vote against the motion.

But the PNP is more cohesive as an organisation than their counterparts. They have a strong belief in their destiny, which is why a loss at the polls gives them that sense of deprivation — bordering sometimes on anger.

Not so the JLP. They are able to rebuild and renew each time around, and in a sense invent a new JLP for every election cycle. We have seen where it worked superbly in the 2016 election and in the past to give Jamaica some eminently productive growth periods of government denied to other dispensations. Hence the early pressure on the Government.

No doubt there will be more press briefings to come, perhaps with new slates of speakers that may give us some indication of the new leadership that is proposing to take over the crown. I don’t very much mind the sparring and the exchanges. Have you noticed how boring our talk shows have become? If last week Tuesday’s briefing was the opening round, draw up your chairs, for there is more to come. “My centre is yielding. My right is retreating. Situation excellent. I am attacking. J’attaque.“

Lance Neita is a public and community relations consultant. Send comments to the Observer or lanceneita@hotmail.com.