IN a defiant and fiery speech at the public session of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Area Council Two conference on Sunday at HEART Academy in Portmore, St Catherine, Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Western Everald Warmington again took a shot at the media and insisted he will not be silenced.

He also said that the JLP is ready and will win the next general election “by any means necessary”, and made it clear that he will not stop defending leader of the JLP and Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness.

Warmington, before making his controversial comments, declared that he was not speaking as a member of the Government.

“Last week they said Government condemned the attack by the political leadership [on the press]. Today I am speaking as a member of the Jamaican Labour Party. The party cannot condemn me when I talk. I am saying again that the agenda of the The Gleaner Company and RJR is to get rid of Andrew Holness and the Jamaica Labour Party. If Labour Party comes out again to condemn what I say, I will say it again, because none of them can shut me up.

“My position is: I must do all I can to ensure that he [Andrew Holness] gets the third term. I wanted to speak early before the prime minister gets here, because I don’t want him to come up here and feel uncomfortable when I speak. I have no apology to make to anyone, anywhere, for defending the Jamaica Labour Party and defending Andrew Holness,” Warmington said to loud cheers from party supporters.

“If the Labour Party comes out tomorrow and say they condemn me attacking the media, it cannot quiet me. I am speaking the truth! Too many persons refuse to speak the truth. I speak the truth, and I don’t give a rat’s a** when I speak. I speak it as it is. As long as the people of South West St Catherine support my position, I will speak and continue to speak,” Warmington added.

“They attacked Edward Seaga, they attacked Bruce Golding and got rid of them, and now dem gone pon Andrew Holness. We, as Labourites, will defend our leader at any cost. We will defend Andrew Holness to death! I have no apology to defend him. They can’t shut me up. They will not shut me up. They can come tomorrow and say they condemned the position or political leadership but me nah talk fi Government today; mi a talk as a Labourite.

“I have done 56 years in this party. There are very few persons who have given this length of service. Desmond McKenzie and myself are the two longest-serving members of this party. I never left this party. The party has never left me. Mi nah go no weh. Me a stay yah suh and fight fi Bustamante party and fight for Andrew Holness party,” Warmington said.

Warmington was first elected as a Member of Parliament on October 30, 1980. He was the youngest member elected to the House that year when the JLP, led then by Edward Seaga, defeated Michael Manley’s People’s National Party by 51 seats to 9.

“When I speak, I speak from a position of strength, of support, and I speak for South West St Catherine, the strongest constituency. I had said it was my intention to step down after 25 years as Member of Parliament and 56 years as part of the team of South West St Catherine, but I take it back because Andrew Holness must get the third term. Therefore, I have to be a part of the team that gives him his third term,” Warmington said to cheers from Labourites.

“I tell all of them to, ‘Chat as much as you want.’ I hear dem [the People’s National Party] talking about time come, but time come for what? Time to send them home! That’s what their time come for. They said they will have to win at all cost, but let me tell you today that we in Area Council Two will use any means necessary to ensure that Andrew Michael Holness wins his third term as prime minister of this country,” Warmington said.

When Holness arrived at the conference and took the stage he spoke out against attacks on freedom of the press, and recalled in his younger days in politics when he felt that a report from a particular journalist was unfair and biased. He said that when he approached the journalist and spoke to him about the way the story was slanted, the journalist told him something profound which has stuck with him.

“The journalist said to me, ‘Mr Holness, I am not your PR firm.’ What it says is that in a free press, if somebody says something you don’t like, develop a capacity to say what you like, and what you want to hear, and get it popularised and fed to the people. In the landscape of a free press — and in particular in the age of social media — some of us may feel uncomfortable when dominant media houses portray our positions in ways we don’t like.

“Let me be clear with you that we have seen the media landscape in Jamaica change dramatically and radically, and what the Jamaica Labour Party must do as we enter the battle for your minds is ensure we put the information out there in the traditional media to ensure the people of Jamaica have a balanced and accurate view of what is happening in our country. We must not be slouchy about it,” Holness said.

The prime minister added that Jamaica is a free country and his Government believes in freedom of the press.

“We must do everything in our power to protect freedom of the press. I want you to understand that this Government is very clear in everything that it does. An important element of our democracy for which we are respected internationally is that we have a free press.

“Many months ago I gave an instruction to the communication team of the party that we must not engage in antisocial media. If you look at the Jamaica Labour Party’s social media, there is nothing antisocial about it. We don’t spread lies on people, we don’t assassinate people’s reputation — because the people who are prone to follow lies, and rumours, and falsehoods are weak-minded, lazy-minded people,” Holness said.

At the same time, he urged Members of Parliament, councillors, and caretakers not to ignore the voices of their activists and workers of the party because there is currently a battle being waged to capture the minds of the people.

Holness said people’s frustration right now is such that if they don’t feel you, they will stray and will listen to false prophets. He said JLP members cannot sit down and think their good works alone will get the party across the line.

“There is a battle being waged right now — even in the most underhanded ways sometimes — for your mind,” Holness said