Ex-States' member Pat Lihou dies

Thursday 02 June 2022

One of the island's most prominent States' members in the 1980s, Pat Lihou, has died overseas.

Mrs Lihou was elected to the States in 1979 as deputy for Torteval. The States later elected her as a conseiller. She held one of the toughest jobs in local politics - President of the Island Development Committee - when she left the Assembly in 1985.

Deputy Peter Roffey, the only current deputy who sat in the States alongside Mrs Lihou, told Express he was "shocked and deeply saddened" by Mrs Lihou's death. 

Deputy Roffey said she "was an amazing woman...one of the few remaining titans of Guernsey politics from my early days in the States". 

Mrs Lihou and her husband, Geoff Baker, pictured top, died within a few days of each other in Grand Bahama in the Bahamas, where they lived in recent years close to Mrs Lihou's daughter and her family.

Pictured: Pat Lihou sat in the States for just over six years.

Mrs Lihou was educated at The Ladies' College. She entered politics at the general election of 1979 when she succeeded Gerald Robilliard as Torteval's sole deputy. She was re-elected at the general election of 1982. In 1985, she was elected as one of the island's 12 conseillers, succeeding Herbert Martel. She left the States a few months later.

Deputy Roffey paid a warm tribute to his friend and former colleague. 

"I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the death of Pat Lihou in her beloved Bahamas. Pat was an amazing women, possessing a rare mixture of both extreme intelligence and a supreme sense of fun," said Deputy Roffey.

"Just as importantly, she was 100% her own woman and a completely independent thinker. She would have had no truck with factionalism in politics. As a result, even when she was on the other side of an argument, I always knew her position was a principled one based on logical analysis.

"I respected her enormously as a stateswoman and she was a great influence on me when I first joined the States.

Pictured: Deputy Peter Roffey said that Pat Lihou was a great influence on him when he first entered local politics at the age of 23 in 1982.

"Pat became the deputy for Torteval in 1979 and later was elected as a conseiller by the States of Election. During her time in the States, she took on one of the most onerous jobs in politics, as President of the Island Development Committee. She excelled in the role, even though I suspect it took its toll.

"We became firm friends, first in the States in the 1980s and then when we both worked for Radio Guernsey in the 1990s. I was a journalist and she was the presenter of the station’s mid-morning magazine programme.

"She brought the same maturity and intellectual curiosity to that role as she had to politics, meaning that its content was never shallow but constantly engaging to Radio Guernsey’s target audience.

"We always stayed in contact – albeit a bit spasmodically – after she emigrated to the Bahamas to be close to her daughter. We last exchanged emails three months ago, when she apologised for not being able to come to the bash to mark the 40th anniversary of my first being elected. She sounded very chipper at the time, as she did in her Facebook posts until they stopped last month. 

Pictured: Pat Lihou was President of one of the States' highest profile committees, the Island Development Committee, in the 1980s.

"For many years, Pat used to return to Guernsey to camp in her old garden in Torteval for a few months each summer. She had retained part of that garden when she sold her house before emigrating.

"One year, she and Geoff pushed the planning boundaries a little and also used a garden shed for accommodation. She was very amused to be caught out by her old committee's 'eye in the sky' and to be told to desist immediately.

"Pat was one of the few remaining titans of Guernsey politics from my early days in the States. More importantly, she was an incredibly nice woman.

"I am devastated to hear of her passing. It is genuinely hard to believe she has gone as it always felt like she would go on for ever. 

"She will be deeply missed by many, both in Guernsey and the Bahamas. We have lost a significant stateswoman."