Holness defends wife, warns bullies will not be allowed to take over Parliament

KINGSTON, Jamaica—Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has come out in strong defence of his wife Juliet Holness, warning that she will not be bullied as she performs her duties as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Holness gave the warning Sunday as he addressed the 83rd annual conference of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in Montego Bay, St James.

Speaking against the backdrop of the recent standoff between the speaker and members of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) that led to a near fistfight between the PNP’s Mikael Phillips and the JLP’s Desmond McKenzie, the prime minister declared his wife to be “the epitome of independence, strong, beautiful, smart and a caring Jamaican woman”.