UDP Chairman Michael Peyrefitte has responded to the leak of a private message he sent to Tracy Panton, saying he’s not surprised and isn’t backing down from the push for party unity.
The leaked message, obtained by News 5, revealed Peyrefitte’s frustration over what he described as a breakdown in an internal agreement among senior UDP figures. Writing directly to Panton, he said that he had only returned to the chairmanship on the assurance that she, Shyne Barrow, Hugo Patt, and Alberto August had agreed on a path forward.
But this morning, Peyrefitte said the leak, while unfortunate, isn’t cause for alarm.
“Leaks will happen,” he said. “Not even presidents of big countries can stop leaks… If it leaks, it leaks. It’s not secret, we are a mass party, and I would love for the people to know every step that we are taking to get back to that place of unity and strength.
In his communication to Panton, Peyrefitte wrote, “We are at a crossroads again, and it seems that I have un-resigned only to come back to a situation that is exactly what I didn’t want to come back to.”
Despite the ongoing discord, Peyrefitte insists the communication was not misleading or malicious.
“Was it ever my desire for it to become public? No,” he said. “But nothing in there was ignitious; nothing in there was a lie and hopefully the public can see that it was an attempt to try and make peace in the party so it is what it is.