Ashcroft Vs Barrow? Lord Michael Says It Was Never Personal

Michael Ashcroft

We asked Lord Ashcroft how things seemed to get so personal between himself and Prime Minister Dean Barrow over the various situations involving B.T.L. and the subsequent arbitral awards. To turn around and choose to settle the B.T.L. matter in particular with a man widely vilified in the Belizean sphere came as a shock to most. Ashcroft replied that it was never personal for him, but that the Government painted itself into a corner, and chose to target the messenger rather than act on the message.

Marleni Cuellar

“This is the reason why it was a very interesting development when the Government of Belize or the Prime Minister, decided to settle the nationalization issue after prolonged litigation. For a very long time, this has been seen as a very personal issue between yourself and Prime Minister Dean Barrow. And understanding that there was this turn of events at some point in time is something that people just can’t quite understand.”

Lord Michael Ashcroft

“I could give my view on that, but it wouldn’t be particularly flattering to the Prime Minister, and I really don’t want to make this a personal matter. The Prime Minister has made it quite a personal matter with me, but I would prefer to resist that temptation. But I believe that the Government made a strategic mistake in not allowing that Accommodation Agreement – which in effect, most of the terms of that Accommodation Agreement have run through under current Government ownership, and they’ve had control of the company – but it’s a sad saga. The Government decided that they didn’t want to become involved in the arbitration; so having had as a term that there was a treaty, that arbitration would be through the London courts, their not participating in the arbitration has meant that this has dragged on and on and on, far more than it should have done. But the important point is that I have no interest in the shares of Telemedia, so having a pop at me is having a pop at the messenger, not the actual facts of the matter.”