The controversial Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmoreland Central, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) George Wright is a featured speaker at a JLP Youth Conference to be held on Sunday at Godfrey Stewart High School in Westmoreland.
Political experts have argued that this could be a signal that Wright, who reapplied for membership in the governing party last October, is back in the fold.
He was forced to resign in June 2021, days after a video went viral in which a man was seen viciously beating a woman with his fist and a stool. While the man was widely believed to be Wright, neither he nor his common-law wife at the time, Tannisha Singh would confirm. Both filed separate reports with the police but the investigation went nowhere as neither party cooperated with the police.
Nonetheless, the JLP quickly distanced itself from Wright with the party’s parliamentary caucus immediately stating that it would no longer caucus with him. Wright was forced to resign from the party, banished from the Government side of the Parliament and forced to sit on the Opposition side of the House of Representatives.
Despite his banishment, Wright declared his unending support for the JLP and continued to vote with the Government in the Parliament.
In January, JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang confirmed that Wright had reapplied for membership in the JLP and stated that a decision would have been made quickly in light of the upcoming general election.
It is the first time that Wright’s image has appeared on an event organised by the JLP since he was forced out of the party. He appears on the event flyer alongside other speakers including the MP for Westmoreland Western, Morland Wilson and the MP for Westmoreland Eastern, Daniel Lawrence. Newly-appointed Senator, Delano Seiveright also appears on the flyer, so too JLP deputy leader J.C. Hutchinson and the MP for St Elizabeth South Western, Floyd Green.
Wright and Singh eventually got married after a reported year of counseling. Reports are that the party took that into consideration when evaluating his application for membership.
The first-term MP is set to renew battle with the People’s National Party’s Dwayne Vaz who he ousted in an upset victory in the 2020 general election. It marked the first time the PNP was losing the seat in over 30 years.
