IT was a day of high drama in Parliament yesterday – and even greater drama going on behind closed doors in the FNM.

Dr Hubert Minnis was not so long ago the leader of the FNM and the country’s Prime Minister. Now, he will not even have a nomination for the next election.

He is not alone. Sources have told The Tribune that Adrian Gibson will also not receive a renomination in Long Island.

And Iram Lewis has jumped ship, announcing in Parliament yesterday that he was leaving the FNM and joining the Coalition of Independents. The suggestion is that he was also not going to be renominated.

Back at the election, you may remember the leaflets from the Coalition that promised such things as free education, free healthcare, free water, free electricity, free internet and a cheque for $100,000 every year to every Bahamian with a passport. Mr Lewis has hopped aboard a ship of fools with every likelihood that his political career will sink fast. Still, he becomes the party’s first MP, to create a small piece of history.

For the FNM, his departure perhaps makes it simple to point at his willingness to switch horses rather than show loyalty to the party as a demonstration of why he was not going to be renominated in the first place.

The political divorce meanwhile between Dr Minnis and party leader Michael Pintard has long seemed inevitable.

Despite losing an election and being handsomely defeated in the party leadership race, Dr Minnis has shown little sign of allowing peace to break out between him and Mr Pintard.

Earlier this year, Dr Minnis was continuing to say that he would run in the next election despite not completing mandatory training for candidates run by the party.

If the party was setting out hoops for him to jump through, he was resolutely declining to do so.

Unity was not on show.

The question is, what comes next?

Will Dr Minnis now take a step back and encourage the party from the sidelines? Or will he perhaps run as an independent? That could be costly for the FNM if the election race is tight.

It should not be forgotten that Dr Minnis has been counted out before. When he was ousted as leader of the Opposition by the Rebel Seven of Loretta Butler-Turner, Neko Grant, Hubert Chipman, Richard Lighbourn, Theo Neilly, Edison Key and Dr Andre Rollins, his prospects looked bleak. Instead, Dr Minnis, who was still leader of the FNM, won the election.

Having survived that revolt, he was unable to withstand the rejection of the Bahamian people after a tenure in office marked by the double hammer blows of COVID-19 and Hurricane Dorian. He was voted out in a landslide.

Rejected at the public polling booths and rejected at the party leadership races. And now denied a nomination to try to win again.

It seems this is the end of the electoral road for the 70-year-old politician. But anyone who has watched his career ought to expect there might be another twist in the tale yet.

Amid all this political drama, meanwhile, a much bigger drama was perhaps playing out – as US President Donald Trump launched tariffs against countries around the world, The Bahamas included. We now have 10 percent tariffs being charged on exports from here to the US.

A number of economic experts are warning this could drive countries into recession, while Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell sent out a voice note suggesting that COVID would be “a joke” in comparison to the disruption from the wave of tariffs being announced. A global trade war is very possible.

Against that backdrop, our local drama may just pale into insignificance.