The front-page pho­to­graph in the Guardian last Fri­day (15.05.26) of the Cab­i­net in ses­sion was worth a thou­sand words. It re­vealed a sig­nif­i­cant change in the con­fig­u­ra­tion of the Cab­i­net ta­ble that made the age-old con­cept of primus in­ter pares stand on its head.

In the pho­to, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar was seat­ed at the head of a rec­tan­gu­lar ta­ble with her min­is­ters seat­ed on both sides. It was a de­par­ture from the usu­al shape of a Cab­i­net ta­ble. In coun­tries that emerged from the West­min­ster sys­tem, like Trinidad and To­ba­go, the Cab­i­net ta­ble is oval shaped with the Prime Min­is­ter seat­ed on one of the long sides while min­is­ters oc­cu­py seats on her left and right.

The oval-shaped ta­ble is sym­bol­ic, if on­ly to make the point that a Prime Min­is­ter is primus in­ter pares, mean­ing that a Prime Min­is­ter is con­sid­ered first among equals in a par­lia­men­tary sys­tem Cab­i­net. I know for sure that when Bas­deo Pan­day was prime min­is­ter, he sat on the long side of an oval-shaped Cab­i­net ta­ble. On his right was At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Ramesh Lawrence Ma­haraj, and on his left was then fi­nance min­is­ter Bri­an Kuei Tung. His se­nior min­is­ters were seat­ed on the op­po­site side, fac­ing him. Even Don­ald Trump sits on the long side of an oval Cab­i­net ta­ble, and so does British Prime Min­is­ter Keir Starmer.

I am told that this tra­di­tion was main­tained by all for­mer prime min­is­ters, in­clud­ing Per­sad-Bisses­sar dur­ing her first term in of­fice. What was the ra­tio­nale for the change?

Plac­ing the Prime Min­is­ter at the head of a rec­tan­gu­lar Cab­i­net ta­ble por­trays her as at arms-length from her min­is­ters and per­haps shap­ing her not as primus in­ter pares but as a monarch or, at worst, a dic­ta­tor bark­ing or­ders. No won­der why she could warn of “bussing heads” or “emp­ty­ing the clip” or us­ing par­lia­men­tary cov­er to make un­sub­stan­ti­at­ed ac­cu­sa­tions against crit­ics.

It would seem that in pre­vi­ous times, the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter had the good for­tune to have the doyen of pro­to­col Lenore Dorset as ad­vi­sor. While Dorset is no longer around, the UNC could have con­sult­ed re­tired House Clerk Jacqui Samp­son-Meiguel. Samp­son-Meiguel is per­haps the most ex­pe­ri­enced pro­to­col of­fi­cer af­ter Dorset. But then the two Min­is­ters in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter may not have the hu­mil­i­ty to seek ad­vice. Per­haps un­wit­ting­ly, those in the Prime Min­is­ter’s of­fice have draped her in nar­cis­sis­tic robes.

Har­ry Par­tap

For­mer MP/Min­is­ter