Jonathan Le Tocq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jonathan Paul Le Tocq is a church minister and politician based on the island of Guernsey, British Channel Islands. He is Senior Pastor of Church on the Rock(formerly the King's Church) which is a Newfrontiers[1] Church; Le Tocq was instrumental in founding this church in the 1980's, being formed from a youth group to which he belonged.

From 2000 to 2008 he also served as an elected Member of the Guernsey Parliament, the States of Guernsey[2], where he represented the Castel district as a People's Deputy. In this capacity he served in his first term as President of the Overseas Aid Committee, and on the Education Department, including being Vice-Chairman of the Youth Service Committee and several other sub-committees.

After the changes in Guernsey's Machinery of Government in 2004 Le Tocq became Senior Member and then Deputy Finance Minister of the Treasury and Rescources Department. He also served as the first Chairman of the newly formed Public Sector Remuneration Committee (PSRC). Responsible for negotiating and setting the pay of all public sector workers, the PSRC oversees over 50% of the total government annual revenue budget.

In March 2007, after the resignation of the island's first Chief Minister, Deputy Laurie Morgan, Le Tocq stood as the youngest of four candidates for the post, but was unsuccessful when Deputy Mike Torode was elected.

Born on 4 March 1964 into a ancient Guernsey family who have lived near Cobo on Guernsey's west coast for at least 800 years, Le Tocq was brought up speaking Guernesiais, the Norman-French national language of Guernsey, until he learnt English on attending Castel Primary school. He was instrumental during his first term as a Deputy to initiate a pilot scheme to teach Guernesiais to primary-aged children on a voluntary basis.

At age 11 went on as a special place holder to Elizabeth College, continuing to Sixth Form and then on to graduate and post-graduate studies in London and Paris, studying Music, French, Philosophy and Theology.

Originally a Methodist, Le Tocq became involved in the Charismatic Renewal whilst a student in London, where he also met his future wife, Judith, then a student nurse. The couple married in 1986 and have three daughters, Lucy, Grace and Emily.