SAYING sorry can be a powerful thing.

How you come back from a mistake can be far more defining than the error.

That is a lesson politicians too often seem immune from. Doubling down, refusing to apologise and fighting back harder, often with an even bigger lie, seems to be the preferred MO more and more – a combination of ego and a misplaced sense that humility looks like weakness driving their response.

Earlier this week, the JEP revealed that States chief executive Charlie Parker had taken on a £50,000-a-year second job as a non-executive director on the board of New River, which describes itself as a ‘Real Estate Investment Trust specialising in buying, managing and developing retail and leisure assets across the UK’.

Yesterday, as the entirely predictable public response showed no sign of abating, the media was told that a statement was being released from the Chief Minister. Many expected – even hoped – that there would be an apology and that this matter would be put to bed.

The response to Covid, the announcement of the preferred site for a new hospital – momentum was building, things were getting done in a landscape free of the acrimony of the previous chapter of Island politics in which Mr Parker was often cast as villain. It was a welcome change – a relief.

Yet, instead of putting out the flames, the Chief Minister’s statement has poured petrol on the fire, raising potentially far more difficult questions.

There was no apology. We were told that Mr Parker ‘had already agreed’ with New River to give his salary to charity through a ‘salary sacrifice scheme’ – initiatives that ordinarily allow a person to forgo wages in exchange for benefits in kind or enhanced pensions in a tax-efficient way.

No mention was made of such a scheme when the JEP started asking questions about this on Monday. It took a day and a half before a response was issued – plenty of time to consider a full and detailed reply – but no mention of such altruism. In fact, there was a behindthe-scenes attempt to argue that it was not a story, to stop us running it, but no mention of ‘sacrifice’.

In order to bring this part of the story to a close, Islanders need to see evidence that the agreement not to be paid was struck in September and not this week in response to the JEP’s questions.

At the very least, the chief executive should have apologised immediately for not telling the people who pay his salary that he had a second job. If he had also said from the outset that he was giving the money to charity, that would surely have been the end of the matter for the vast majority of Islanders.

The Chief Minister says in his statement that he ensures civil servants are held to the highest standards of integrity and commitment to Jersey. That commitment should have at its core transparency and accountability.

While most would agree that journalists had a duty to tell this story, many also want it to go away – journalists included.

There are far bigger issues to address.

Let’s hope the ‘further statement’ promised in the Chief Minister’s response brings this matter to a close.