While he did not make it in to work yesterday, Government's newest MP Ashfield DeVent will not be giving up his day job in the broadcast media.

Mr. DeVent, who had the day off yesterday following his resounding success at the polls on Tuesday, said yesterday that he was not planning on quitting his job as a court reporter with broadcast station VSB.

"I really don't see where anything has changed", he told The Royal Gazette.

And the view is shared by his employer. Chris Lodge, news director at the station spoke highly of Mr. DeVent's work and said he had no fears of a conflict of interest.

"Mr. DeVent is an extremely competent and dedicated court reporter," he said. "I have obviously given a great of thought to the possibility of conflict of interest but because his area of reporting is a specialised one involving just court coverage at this stage, I don't see a major conflict."

Mr. Lodge also said that he felt a precedent had been set by Mr. DeVent's parliamentary predecessor the late David Allen. He pointed out that while he (Mr. Allen) was an MP for many years, "he also served as a reporter covering the area of tourism and putting out his own publication, again a specialised area".

"It would be unconscionable to deprive Mr. DeVent of a livelihood merely because he wanted to serve his country in the public arena," Mr. Lodge said, adding that all reporters must answer to their news directors when conflicts of interest arise for them.