FORMER Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said he did not feel like his advice was wanted or appreciated by the Free National Movement for the past several years.

“I have not been active in the last five years or more because I did not feel that my advice or counsel was appreciated, wanted or needed,” Mr Ingraham told reporters on Friday after viewing the body of former Senator J Barrie Farrington in the foyer of the Senate.

“And so I did not avail myself of any opportunity to get in the way of anyone.”

Mr Ingraham stepped down as FNM leader in 2012 after his party’s defeat at the polls.

 Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis was later elected leader of the FNM.

 Their relationship was said to be strained over the years and at one point in 2012, Dr Minnis declared that the Ingraham era was over.

 At an event in 2018, former Prime Minister Perry Christie suggested that Dr Minnis did not speak to Mr Ingraham, prompting the Killarney MP to give an impromptu defence of his relationship with the country’s former leader.

“Perry, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from you, you always said, ‘the man who speaks last has the greater advantage,’” Dr Minnis said at a party celebrating the birthday of Sir Arthur Foulkes in 2018.

 “So let me clear the record now. Ingraham and I have always been friends; we’ve always loved each other and that won’t change. Throughout our years we’ve always learned to agree to disagree. Our relationship is so tight that we even share the same name Hubert Alexander. . .”

 In 2019 after Hurricane Dorian, both Mr Christie and Mr Ingraham said they were willing to assist the government however they could with restoration efforts, but were sceptical about whether Dr Minnis, who was prime minister at the time, would give them the opportunity to take an active role in the process.

 During the recent election campaign, Mr Ingraham did not endorse Dr Minnis.