Damn the man say he only ended up in England because Manley forced his father to leave.

@Joshua

My parents knew John's parents, and from what they told me, it seems Colonel Ken Barnes was quite the JLP activist.

But his mother, Jean stayed in Jamaica, and became head of CPTC. Every time I went to CPTC to do some video recording work, Jean would call me in to her office to chat about my parents.

Jean was of course the daughter of the Marxist trade unionist Ken Hill, so support for Manley was in the maternal side of his family.

I got the impression the marriage broke down, otherwise Ken Barnes would have returned in 1980 when Seaga won. But he chose not to.

I'm not convinced that John's reminiscences are 100% accurate.

@mikesiva

What’s not accurate. Did Manley assign Ken Barnes to be a military attaché in the UK or not

He spoke later on about his mother involvement in government and how there was a sense of elitism from how they practised governance and even his own upbringing in Jamaica identified that there were aspects of elitism in how his family lived.

@Joshua

Saying Manley told Ken Barnes to leave Jamaica solely because Ken said his loyalty was to his country.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/21/john-barnes-my-family-values

That's different from what my parents told me. In little snippets, I must admit.

Back then, they weren't famous, so I wasn't that interested in what my parents said about Ken Barnes. But some small snippets stuck.

@mikesiva

Well Eddie went to his dad's funeral ">and gave a eulogy so your point about him being a JLP activist looks on point. So it is no surprise Manley asked him for his allegiance.

">The 70s must have been some scary time. Yet my late parents got married in 1974, mom from a strong PNP family and my dad a big JLP supporter.

@mikesiva

I'm not convinced that John's reminiscences are 100% accurate.

Agreed. In any event I think it was prudent for Joshua to play it safe by ensuring he had trustworthy people in such sensitive positions…

I still rate Barnes as one of the greatest to ever play the game - that will never change no matter how questionable is his recollection…