Speaker Drops Hammer: ‘Serpent’s’ Entire Speech Wiped from Parliamentary Records
In an almost unheard-of move, House Speaker Sir Osbert Frederick has erased from the official records every word spoken by St. George’s MP Algernon “Serpent” Watts during the March 3 debate on the Road Traffic Amendment Act.
The Speaker’s decision, announced in Parliament on Monday, stunned the chamber. Rarely, if ever, has a sitting member’s full contribution been scrubbed from Hansard, the permanent record of parliamentary proceedings.
At the centre of the controversy is Watt’s reliance on a document from which he quoted extensively. When pressed by St. John’s City East MP Melford Nicholas to table the source, Watt promised to produce it before the day’s end. He never did.
After repeated reminders and even a formal letter from the Speaker, Watts doubled down — not in the House, but on his radio show — calling Frederick’s letter “threatening” and boasting that, as an MP, he was “protected” by the Constitution.
Frederick dismissed that claim as “laughable” and lowered the gavel with a ruling that could reshape parliamentary practice: no member will be allowed to quote any document in debate unless it is first submitted to the Clerk.
And then came the thunderbolt — the Speaker ordered the Clerk to strike Watt’s entire March 3 speech from the record, effectively making it as if “Serpent” had never spoken at all.
This story was first published by Antigua News on : antigua.news/2025/08/26/speaker-drops-hammer-serpents-entire-speech-wiped-from-parliamentary-records. © 2025 Antigua News. Republication without permission is not allowed.
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Comments (6)
vance August 26, 2025, 7:49 AM
Mindy August 26, 2025, 7:50 AM
Apex Jones August 26, 2025, 7:58 AM
This is certainly unheard of. Then again they hardly make any contributions in Parliament so it’s neither here nor there
Shines August 26, 2025, 8:37 AM
King goat August 27, 2025, 8:47 PM
Informed citizen August 26, 2025, 3:00 PM