Michael Manley

THE Michael Manley who visited the United States in 1990 had cast aside his Che Guevara bush jacket in favour of a suit. The free market had replaced his party's “ten steps to socialism”. President Bush was happy to bless a sinner who had apparently repented and he went out of his way to praise the “first-class job” that Mr Manley was doing as prime minister of Jamaica. It takes style and gall to change sides successfully, and Mr Manley had plenty of both. He turned on a reporter who seemed puzzled that the old leftie had become a free marketeer, and said: “Is your outlook on everything the same as it was ten years ago?”