So, Faber tried to have it both ways - declaring loyalty to his party - but still maintaining his distance from his leader's words to the Speaker.
And so we turn to the debate - the longest one of the day we might add - on whether the House will adopt the report from the Constitution And Foreign Affairs Committee which requires that Barrow apologizes to the House Speaker. Here are a few clips from that hundred minute debate - led off by the Chairman of the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee - Julius Espat:
Julius Espat, Member - Cayo South
"The letter was written to a Madam Speaker. It was written to one of our women of this country. And we have to have respect for our women, our mothers, our wives, our daughters. That, I believe, crosses the line a little bit more than it would have been a Mr. Speaker. We all make mistakes, honorable member of the opposition. Some of us on this side have paid more dearly for those mistakes. I plead to you, be above the fray. Let us continue. We want an opposition. We need an opposition. As the Prime Minister says, be a man. Honor this house. Honor your party. Be a man. Do the right thing. Apologize to a woman. Apologize to the leader of this arena. That's the chairman, the speaker, the person that has the authority."
"And I can tell you, I can tell you, compared to humpy dumpy, that's an honorable speaker."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"How nauseating to listen to this member from Cayo South. You know, I will apologize on behalf of my father for the mental instability that he has caused you. Because he used to lick your so bad that you've lost your brain capacity. Now when it comes to this matter, the House Committee has absolutely no jurisdiction on this matter. These standing orders whether you read it in paper or you read it in the book do not govern the interactions or the conduct of members outside of this honorable house."
"So don't make a mockery of the standing orders and you should know because you had to be drugged out of the honorable house member from Cayo South because of your despicable and disgraceful behavior and your refusal to listen to the speaker. So you are nobody to talk about reverence for speaker and institution."
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep., Dangriga
"But if you look at the email Mr. Speaker it was sent to the clerk of the National Assembly. addressed to the clerk. So it came to the house and it was signed by him as Honorable Dr. Shyne Barrow, sorry member from Cayo South - Leader of the opposition, House of Representatives and MP for Mesopotamia. Both of those in my view clearly make it a document within the House of Representatives. Isn't that clear?"
Hugo Patt, UDP Corozal North
"If we're gonna ask for apologies Mr. Speaker I think everybody has to apologize. So that my advice going forward is for us to apply the rules eq we as opposition are simply saying look we feel that at some point in time we're not allowed the kind of leverage that those in the other side have."
"All we are saying is look be equal to us and let's play on."
Kareem Musa, PUP Caribbean Shores
"I still have confidence that before the 31st of October you the member will demonstrate a modicum of respect. A modicum of decency and I know that is very difficult because humility doesn't come natural to you."
Henry Charles Usher, PUP Fort George
"The leader of the opposition likes to say that he reads and understands the standing orders, but I wonder if he has skipped over standing order 38-8 which says very clearly that the conduct of the speaker shall not be questioned other than in a substantive motion."
"The conduct of the speaker shall not be questioned other than in a substantive motion and as the member from Dangriga said very clearly when the leader of the opposition sent that email to the clerk of the National Assembly he was not not sayingg it as a private citizen. He was saying it as a member of this House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker. And he very clearly wanted it to be read into the record of this House of Representatives. So it's very clear that the House Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, had every right to look at what was said because it was directed towards the Speaker."
Patrick Faber, UDP Collet
"I hold firm to what I've said in my letter of correspondence to the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee that dealt with this matter on Wednesday last. Because I hold firm to my belief and I will tell you that the leader of the opposition is not wrong."
"I have some concerns about some of the things that happen in here in terms of how the speaker rules as well. But as many have pointed out before, it is improper for us to talk about that in here. And in fact, there is a proper way of registering or complaining when that is the case."
"So it is out of no ill will or malice that I wrote my position to the committee. And in fact, while you celebrate today me saying that the respect needs to be there for Madam Speaker, we must also have respect for each other."
Tracey Taegar Panton, UDP Albert
"There is a lot of moral grandstanding on this issue in the House. We all agree that there must be a level of professionalism. There must always be a level of respect. There must be a level of the decorum. And that should not apply to me because I am a woman. It should apply to me because I am a member of the National Assembly. So these token approaches to create a gender issue is really a concern to me."
"Mr. Speaker, not only has the member from Orange Walk South been grossly disrespectful to me, but the member from Orange Walk Central, our Honourable Prime Minister himself - If you want to be treated as a lady, you must act like one. Really?"
"I am going to be guided. When I agree with the member from Cayo South, when he spoke to the media yesterday, he said you could say anything in this House. But when you are done you say mea culpa, mea culpa. I am still waiting for the member from Orange Walk South to say mea culpa and for the member of Orange Walk Central to say mea culpa. You see the member of Orange Walk South felt that if he called me on the advice of his wife he told me just on a phone after I left the house meeting, that was sufficient. He didn't insult me on the phone, he didn't insult me in the public domain, he insulted me and disrespected me in this national assembly Mr. Speaker, so all the chess pumping, all the moral grandstanding needs to be put in proper context."
"You know what the nursery rhymes say, what is good for the goose, good for the gander."
And when that was done - Shyne Barrow called for a division for the sole purpose of seeing which way Patrick Faber would go. Voting "yes" to adopt the report would arguably constitute a crossing of the floor. Well, faber played it smart, and he abstained - as did Tracy Teagar Panton. In the end only Barrow and his Deputy Hugo Patt voted against the resolution.
