Race joke deputy will not resign

Bernard Flouquet said he had assumed his comments would remain private

The minister who made a racist joke about Barak Obama has ignored calls for his resignation.

Deputy Bernard Flouquet's comments about the US President-elect were made at a media briefing last week.

Making his first public announcement, he told the States he had told it to lighten the mood of gloomy journalists.

However, the deputy chief minister accepted he had been "exceptionally naive" and said the past few days had been a "personal embarrassment".

Mistaken assumption

"I was foolish enough to repeat a somewhat tasteless joke that I'd picked up at a conference in London the day before," Mr Flouquet told the States.

"At a press briefing for local journalists I was anxious to lighten their gloomy mood prior to explaining some very serious and technical information."

He said the joke was not intended for broadcast, nor did it reflect his opinion or that of the government.

"Upon reflection, both the action and the assumption that it might remain private, was exceptionally naive," he told members.

Mr Flouquet then offered an "unreserved apology" to the people of Guernsey.

More than 20 States members had called for him to step down.