NOTE: Due to a technical error, the wrong story was matched with this headline on Wednesday.

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner yesterday insisted that she was not attempting to oust party leader Dr Hubert Minnis from his post amid speculation that there is a rift between the two over her political ambitions.

Mrs Butler-Turner said there have been several conversations between herself and Dr Minnis in which she made it clear that he had no need to worry about where she stands as to the direction of her political career.

As she quashed concerns about discord in the party, the Long Island MP called on all FNMs to unite as the country faces critical times.

Mrs Butler-Turner made the comments as a guest on “Let’s Talk Live” on 96.9 FM.

“I am not going to try and take the leader out,” Mrs Butler-Turner said. “That is not my position. But there will come a time when a convention is expected to be held when people need to know is this a viable option for me.”

She added: “When you look at my character and when you look at how I have conducted myself, always I think that people don’t have to second guess what I am going to do. I was often told by my grandmother that politics is a dirty game; I believe that politics is what people make it. Maybe because people do tend to do things behind closed doors – they use cloaks and daggers and everything – I have been a very upfront person. I try to be very open with who I am and what I am going to do.

“I have had this conversation with my leader on more than one occasion and I have always said to him, ‘You know, you don’t have to worry about where I am coming from. If I am going to do something you will be the first to know’ and I think in that vein a lot of people don’t understand me.”

In June, Mrs Butler-Turner told The Tribune that she was weighing her options and considering running for party leader at the FNM’s next convention. At the time, she said, she was inundated with support from FNMs asking her to consider the party’s top post.

“I said that I will weigh my options and I think that what is more disingenuous and probably harmful to our party are those people who are hiding their ambitions and going behind everyone’s back and asking for support, but yet not declaring publicly,” she said yesterday.

She admitted that as it stands, various communities were being canvassed as she continued to weigh her options.

When asked if that announcement affected her relationship with Dr Minnis, she said it had not.

“I think it has affected the wider public moreso than my relationship with Dr Hubert Minnis,” the Long Island MP said.

She also addressed issues that had developed from an event held in North Abaco recently. Last week, reports emerged that she had snubbed Dr Minnis at the event, which, she said, was a private party held for her as she canvassed support for a possible leadership bid.

However some in the party maintained that the gathering was an FNM event, not a private one.

Yesterday Mrs Butler-Turner explained that the FNM agreed to work together with a view to moving past the incident. However, the Long Island MP said she accepted full responsibility for everything that went wrong during the event.

The FNM has said it will hold a convention early next year.