Donald Gelling

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Isle of Man
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Donald James Gelling CBE CP, CInstSMM (born July 5, 1938) is a former Chief Minister of the Isle of Man who served 2 terms as Head of the Government.

Gelling is a native Manxman who was born in Santon, a village to the south-west of Douglas. He was apprenticed in engineering from 1954 to 1959 and after National Service in the Royal Air Force he became a salesman of agricultural machinery and vehicles. He was a general manager of his company from 1969.

His political career began immediately as his National Service ended in 1961 when he was elected as a Santon Parish Commissioner; he served for 25 years and had five terms as Chairman of the Commissioners. In the Tynwald election of November 1986 Gelling was elected as Member of the House of Keys for Malew and Santon constituency. Like most political figures in the Isle of Man, Gelling does not belong to any political party and has fought elections as an Independent on his own personal record and policies.

Gelling served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 1988 to 1989 and was then appointed to the important role of Minister for Treasury. In this role he kept the Isle of Man's status as a 'tax haven' and moved to build up the financial services sector as Chairman of the Financial Supervision Commission. After the 1996 general election, Gelling was elected Chief Minister of the Isle of Man.

In the November 2001 General Election he was re-elected without opposition. He decided to retire from the Chief Ministership the following year and was elected by his Keys colleagues to be a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). The Legislative Council is the Upper House of Tynwald, the Isle of Man Parliament. He retained his interest in the financial services industry as the head of Isle of Man Finance, a body set up by the Manx Treasury to promote the industry.

After the sudden resignation of Richard Corkill on December 2, 2004 in a financial scandal, Gelling was re-elected as Chief Minister on December 14. He staid in office then for exactly 2 years before stepping down as Chief Minister after the 2006 General Election. He then stood down as an MLC on 18 January 2007, retiring from politics forever.

[edit] The Gelling 1st Council


OFFICE	NAME	TERM

Chief Minister	Donald Gelling	1996–2001
Minister of the Treasury	Richard Corkill	1996–2001
Minister of Home Affairs	Allan Bell	1996–2001
Minister of Health and Social Security	Clare Christian	1996–2004
Minister of Education	Edgar Mann	1996–1999
	Steve Rodan	1999–2004
Minister of Trade and Industry	David North	1996–2001
Minister of Tourism and Leisure	David Cretney	1996–2006
Minister of Transport	Tony Brown	1996–2001
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	Hazel Hannan	1995–1999
	Alex Downie	1999–2001
Minister of Local Government and the Environment	Edgar Quine	1996–1999
	Walter Gilbey	1999–2001

[edit] The Gelling 2nd Council


OFFICE	NAME	TERM

Chief Minister	Donald Gelling	2004–2006
Minister of the Treasury	Allan Bell	2001–present
Minister of Home Affairs	Phil Braidwood	2001–2005
	John Shimmin	2005–2006
Minister of Health and Social Security	Steve Rodan	2004–2006
Minister of Education	David Anderson	2004–2006
Minister of Trade and Industry	Alex Downie	2002–2006
Minister of Tourism and Leisure	David Cretney	1996–2006
Minister of Transport	John Shimmin	2002–2005
	Phil Braidwood	2005–2006
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	Bill Henderson	2004–2005
	Phil Gawne	2005–present
Minister of Local Government and the Environment	John Rimmington	2004–2006

Preceded by Sir Miles Walker	Chief Minister 1996–2001	Succeeded by Richard Kenneth Corkill

Preceded by Richard Kenneth Corkill	Chief Minister 2004–2006	Succeeded by Tony Brown

Chairman of the Executive Council/Chief Minister
Sir Charles Kerruish, Edgar Crowe, Percy Radcliffe, Clifford Irving, Col Dr Edgar Mann, Sir Miles Walker, Richard Corkill, Donald Gelling, Tony Brown