Phillips’ finger action a light-hearted moment – PNP

THERE ARE calls for Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips to apologise for showing his middle fingers to members sitting on the government benches in Parliament on Tuesday.

Phillips made reference to the number two by first showing his index and middle fingers together. The Government side signalled that he was making a symbol of the Jamaica Labour Party. Phillips quickly projected his index and little fingers before parading his middle fingers.

Yesterday, Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown told The Gleaner that she had taken an interest in the matter involving Phillips.

“Restraint is a valuable tool for every public figure. We need to appreciate that whatever we say or do will be taken at face value, and it will also be interpreted, and explanations will be found wanting,”she said.

Julian Robisnon, general secretary of the opposition People’s National Party, yesterday sought to explain why Phillips flipped the middle fingers.

“In joking, in representing the symbol of the JLP, he used one figure from one hand and one finger from the other. There was never any intent to offend anybody. In fact, I would say of the entire sitting, it would have been probably the most light-hearted moment of the sitting,” Robinson related.

‘There was never any intent to offend anybody. In fact, I would say of the entire sitting, it would have been probably the most light-hearted moment of the sitting.’