Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE (AL) has described herself as an independent who works with the Virgin Islands Party government. Photo: Internet Source

Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE (AL) was sworn in as Junior Minister for Financial Services, Trade and Economic Development by Governor Daniel Pruce in March 2025. Photo: Government of the Virgin Islands

(L-R) Talking Points Co-host Damion C. Grange and Violet Thomas Gaul, guest Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE (AL) and Co-host Elvin Grant on Talking Points on Monday, April 14, 2025. Photo: Facebook

Following the 2023 general elections, Hon Smith crossed the floor to help the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) led by Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) form the government, was subsequently fired and then returned to the government's side.

Back and forth between government and opposition

Running on a National Democratic Party (NDP) ticket during the 2023 general elections, Hon Smith was made Deputy Premier and Minister for Financial Services, Labour and Trade, after she crossed the floor. 

However, following attempts by the Opposition in 2024, then led by Hon Ronnie W. Skelton, for a motion of no confidence to be brought against Premier Wheatley, in a surprising move, Hon Smith was booted from the VIP camp, stripped of her Deputy Premier and ministerial portfolios and sent on her way to the Opposition side of the House of Assembly in October 2024.

Premier Wheatley had said he was not confident about getting Hon Smith's support in a vote of no confidence.

Former Opposition Member Hon Julian Fraser, RA (R3) then made his way to the government’s side, becoming Deputy Premier and also holding a ministerial portfolio. 

In another surprising move less than six months later on March 11, 2025, Premier Wheatley announced that Hon Smith was crossing the floor once again becoming Junior Minister for Financial Services, Trade and Economic Development, pending a change in the constitution which would make the position of Minister of State possible for her. 

I’m an independent; not invited back to NDP- Hon Smith 

With the concerns of Premier Wheatley and his initial doubts of trust in Hon Smith, which got her booted from the government, Hon Smith, who is usually unapologetically herself and known to speak her mind, did not hesitate when asked by Talking Points Co-host Mrs Violet Thomas-Gaul about her political affiliation. 

“I’m an independent right now. Right now, I’m an independent, and I’m not affiliated formally with any party. But I work with the government of the Virgin Islands, which is the Virgin Islands Party government,” she told Talking Points on Monday, April 14, 2025, on ZBVI 780 AM. 

Mrs Thomas-Gaul asked Hon Smith about the newly “resurrected” National Democratic Party (NDP). 

“Let’s say I have not been invited back…perhaps they’re getting to it, but no, I have not been [invited], let’s put it differently, I have not been recently invited to join.”

Hon Marlon A. Penn (R8), leader of the NDP, told Talking Points just the week before that the party is looking to recruit individuals who care about the VI and want to be in leadership.

Meanwhile, commentator Claude O. Skelton-Cline has called on the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) to give Hon Smith and Hon Fraser an ultimatum to join the Virgin Islands Party.

“I would no longer sit, if I was a Virgin Islands Party member, and allow the member of the Third and the At-Large member to continue to be a part of my government without joining my party,” Skelton Cline stated. “The Congress of the Virgin Islands Party needs to put a demand and command this moment by ensuring that the members of government show their hand, declare their hand,” Skelton-Cline stated on his radio show, Honestly Speaking, on March 25, 2025.