Skelton forced to apologise to Walwyn over ‘Antigua’ joke

Former Health Minister Ronnie Skelton

Former Opposition Leader Ronnie Skelton was made to apologise in the House of Assembly on Thursday after making an inappropriate comment about Myron Walwyn’s parents that drew strong objections from the newly appointed Opposition Leader.

The exchange happened during a heated debate on the controversial review of volume two of the law enforcement and criminal justice bodies in the Virgin Islands. In a moment of levity that quickly turned sour, Skelton joked about relocating residents to Antigua while questioning the UK’s genuine interest in the Virgin Islands.

“We were supposed to be a bird sanctuary. The majority of people were supposed to be moved to Antigua,” Skelton said. So, the leader of the opposition… probably, we’d all be in Antigua with him. We would all be neighbours. You know.”

Walwyn, who recently replaced Skelton as Leader of the Opposition, immediately pushed back.

“I have to go ahead and remind the territorial member that I’m in fact a BVIslander. And I spent my life here—he tends to forget that at times,” Walwyn stated. “I find it most inappropriate… I’m highly offended, I must say, by that comment.”

Skelton attempted to explain, saying: “What I meant [was] that his parents would not have been in the BVI. We all would be down there. That’s what I meant.” But the Speaker and Walwyn remained firm that he could not accept the remark.

“It’s still inappropriate,” Walwyn responded. “Inappropriate. Very inappropriate. And disrespectful.”

However, Skelton remained adamant that it was a joke and rejected Walwyn’s objections. “Be offended…,” Skelton said. “I feel offended too because he misinterpreted what I said. You can’t tell me what to say in this House, anymore,” he responded.

After insistence from the House Speaker Corine George-Massicotte, Skelton was instructed to issue an apology before the sitting ended. “Well, while you may have thought of it as simply maybe a joke, he did not take it as such,” the Speaker told him. “Given that it’s a reference to his parents, I just ask that you apologise to the member.”

Skelton complied, stating: “Madam Speaker, if I offended the Leader of the Opposition, I apologise.”

The apology comes amid rising tensions within the House following Skelton’s removal as Opposition Leader earlier this month. Skelton was replaced by Walwyn, who is part of a loosely formed Alliance group of opposition members, after those opposition members submitted a formal request to the Speaker.

The incident has added another layer of friction to the ongoing debates over the UK-commissioned report, which Skelton called “a racist report” and argued was “totally disrespectful to us as a people.”