From Regimentio Health

The Honourable Ernest Britto QBE, ED and Minister for Health held out his hand and greeted me at the door of his office on 7"" floor of St Bernard's Hospital.

The Minister's office is comfort able,clean and modern with a style that befits a government official without being extravagant or osten tatious. It also has a beautiful view overlooking the sea and western side of Gibraltar. We sat on some comfortable chairs and as the Min ister relaxed with a tea, without preamble, we chatted,

Ernest Britto has been a public servant of Gibraltar in some way or other since he was conscripted into the Gibraltar Regiment in 1962 for his 4 months service. It is a service that was miraculous in a way be cause it may not have happened at all.

Long before he waseven thought of his mother was evacuated along with many others during the sec ond World War to camps in Ja maica. His father was a teacher and with other Gibraltarian men,stayed in Gibraltar as part of the war ef fort. This was until someone real ised that the evacuated children still needed an education and it wouldn't be served in a foreign land far from home without the right kind of teachers. So his father was fortunate to end up in Jamaica teaching and reunited with his wife — around nine months later baby Ernest made his entrance.

After the war was over the fam ily came back to Gibraltar and a couple of years later his brother Gerry was born.

His grandfather had launched the Music Store on Main Street, right where Sport City is now and most of Minister Britto's early memories revolve around the shop, the streets and the visits of ships to Gibraltar from all over the world.

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1 asked him what it was like then when the streets were full of sail ors and soldiers compared to now. "It was much worse in those days," he answered, "it was a real case of bring down the shutters and lock up your daughters.I remember the town having these sort of saloon bars selling drinks,and girls danc ing on a raised platforms entertain ing the troops. One was called the Trocadero, nothing sordid just risque fun and as boys we would try to climb to see inside the win dows until we got chased away. There were shore patrols and mili tary police everywhere bashing heads and literally throwing drunken people into the back of vehicles to take them back to the ships. In comparison, today's mili tary visitors are very well behaved; you'd have to have seen it to truly believe how it was back then".

As a young student he had am bition to go to university but the family business started by his grandfather needed him, so he completed his'O'and'A'levels and then called time on his studies.

Although still working at the shop at the age of 19 he entered the Gibraltar Regiment as yet another conscript for his tour of duty conscription meant 4 months with the regiment, then a 15 day camp every 2years until the age of28.But the contrast to his home life, disci plined, yet less controlling, the more broader outlook it gave him, meeting different people, the free dom to use initiative and the out door physical exertion all mixed together for him to see that this could be the sort of life he was go ing to enjoy.

At the end of his 4 months he volunteered to remain within the Regiment as a reserve soldier and had the best of both worlds being able to help to run the family busi ness yet continue on his own path of discovery.

He was promoted to Corporal quite quickly and it wasn't too long before his leadership qualities were recognised and he was promoted again, this time to Sergeant.

Interestingly the Minister told me he felt he wasn't the Senior Non commissioned Officer (SNCO) type. "It is a different kind of per son that has the ability to be a SNCO.Yes I felt I had the ideas and the planning but 1 didn't think I would make a good Sergeant Ma jor or Warrant Officer. It isn't about shouting or being tough,the quali ties needed to make a good SNCO are every bit as important as the qualities needed to make a good Officer but they are different kinds of qualities. The Regiment must have seen that too and it was sug gested 1 might consider a commis sion".

In 1965 Ernest Britto was com missioned into the Gibraltar Regi ment and over the next 20 years he would serve Queen and country culminating in him being the last ever continuing serving reserve sol dier to make Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment in 1982 at the age of 39. He was also awarded the OBE soon after,a great honour being presented personally by Her Majesty the Queen at Buck ingham Palace.

During his Army career he dis covered a talent for shooting and as well as being involved in many Army competitions he also repre sented Gibraltar in the Common wealth Games and the Island

Games during which he won 2 bronze medals.

Surelv I asked, representing Gi braltar at such an illustrious level must be a high point? "Yes, it is a proud achievement", he offered, "but I also won the Wilkinson Sword for shooting during my last year In the Army. This win was prestigious because it is a competi tion that was staged not over one shoot but a whole weekend against my peers and some of the tough est,sharpest, military riflemen to be found anywhere. In effect, that year I was overall military champion, beating the best in the British Royal Navy,Army and Royal Air Force as well as the corresponding Volun teer and Cadet Units."

Gibraltar Regiment terms of service meant he had to retire at the age of 42, a waste of talent in some ways but there was still the family business to keep him occupied if only for part of the time.

The silver lining in the cloud of course was the freedom to pursue other avenues and like many oth ers he had a keen interest in poli tics. An interest that had to be kept under wraps whilst serving in the time honoured tradition.

His political aspiration at the time was to improve things consti tutionally for the people of Gibral tar.

Two years after leaving the Army he was asked to join the executive committee of the AACR which he did and was somewhat of a dark horse as elections loomed in 1988. The Gibraltar Chronicle at the time speculated as to who would stand for election and Minister Britto didn't even make the newspaper speculative list.

He was selected and elected to the House of Assembly in 1988 and remained there as a member for the Opposition until the CSD were elected to Government in 1996.

Without wanting to dwell too much on politics I asked what he thought he'd done as a politician to improve Gibraltar. "During my time as both the Minister for Gov ernment Services and Sport (19962000) and the Minister for Public Services, the Environment,Sport & Youth(2000-2004)1 was instrumen tal in creating sporting facilities the like of which we'd never dreamed of before. Reclaiming land and buy ing land for the people to enjoy. I also put in place the beginnings of policies that now give us a Sports Hall of international standard. We also have an Olympic standard hockey pitch and other new facili ties such as an archery range, a fit ness trail, paddle tennis, a golf range and a Watersports Centre are still being built.

"As Minister for Health taking the baton from my predecessor and carrying on his good work I was also lucky enough to oversee the move of St Bernard's hospital to its new site. Even more recently we have had the inauguration of the new Dialysis Unit and the new Mammography screening unit and CT scan machine at St Bernard's and I take pride in achieving goals not for myself but for the people of Gibraltar".

Politics off the menu again I asked him what he does to relax af ter some 40 years service for Gibral tar?"Well it is an old cliche but I do love a bit of gardening these days", he smiled."I also enjoy photogra phy and with my daughter having returned with her family from Western Australia where she has been living 1 have the pleasure of three beautiful grandchildren, who at the ages of 7, 8 and 3 are just the perfect ages to be spoilt by their grandfather".

With the family back from Aus tralia and you seeming to relax more, are you thinking of retiring? 1 asked."No not just yet although it is a fact of life as wo all get older we must think of retirement," he ventured."The next election has to be no later than November 2007, if I am still needed and wanted by the part\' at this time I would stand again".

Do you have any regrets about the wav your career has mapped out? I enquired. "Not really, if I hadn't joined the Army and gone straight into politics I may have been a more rounded and longer serving politician but the Army gave me other traits that helped shape me,made me a different kind of politician".

Finally I asked how he would sum up the uniqueness of Gibral tar and why he believes it is such a great place. "Simple really, this is the only place like it in the world, look at what we have. Look at an equivalent population in any other country of the world and you will notsee its equal.Gibraltar is the size of a town, with the resources of a city and the ambition of a country".

It's not often I agree with politi cians but I have to say he's got it right there.

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