From the moment he brandished a rubber snake during his first appearance on a campaign platform, it was clear that Justice Herbert Volney was going to be the joker in the UNC pack. Plummeting from the bench to the arena in one fell swoop, he made it clear that in his case, normal rules did not apply and there were no holds barred.

It should not come as a surprise, then, that it was Mr Volney who called last week for public hangings in Woodford Square.

Some of us may find it disturbing that the country has a Minister of Justice with such medieval ideas about his portfolio. Still, whatever your opinion of Mr Volney, at least you know where you are with him.

You can't say the same for the Prime Minister, however. Mr Volney shares more than just not only his enthusiasm for hanging with Works Minister Jack Warner. In his previous occupation he too was accustomed to speaking his mind, and has a highly developed talent for polarising opinion. You either love him or you think he's a complete idiot. But, given the way he has always courted controversy, it's unlikely that that troubles him.

Not so the Prime Minister. Ms Persad-Bissessar seems to have reverted to the persona she adopted while she was a minister in the UNC Government, when she managed to be popular on both sides of the House.

In this incarnation, she's a nine on the enneagram: the peacemaker.

This time around, she has a larger target audience—the entire country—and she wants to please all of the people all of the time.

That may explain her remarks on Thursday, which were of delphic ambiguity. Members of her Cabinet had previously expressed varying—but clear—views on the death penalty. Mr Warner and National Security Minister John Sandy were in favour; Trade and Industry Minister Stephen Cadiz and Planning Minister Mary King were against.

Everyone was waiting for the Prime Minister to make a definitive statement and end the uncertainty over the Government's views.

But the Prime Minister did no such thing. What she said was: "It is the law of the land and therefore I do not understand the debate. The law is on our statute books…We will act according to the rule of the law."

So because capital punishment is prescribed by the law, it shouldn't even be discussed? Frankly, it's impossible to believe that that is really what the Prime Minister thinks.

What's more, Ms Persad-Bissessar is a lawyer and a member of Parliament. She has spent the past 15 years changing, updating, repealing and trying to improve the laws of the land. That's her job.

So she knows perfectly well that laws are not carved in stone; no law, even the Constitution, is immune to alteration.

She also knows many laws are more honoured in the breach, because they are stupid, backward, ineffectual, unworkable or misguided. Many are quietly overlooked and unenforced, and a good thing too.

If this law were changed, however, either to abolish hanging or to make it easier to carry out, some people would be displeased—including members of the Government.

So, reading between the lines, it seems the diplomatic Ms Persad-Bissessar has decided to sit on the fence and maintain the status quo. The death penalty will remain in place, at least on paper; but, she hinted, the Government won't take steps to make it easier to carry out.

"Should we remove the barriers? We cannot remove certain barriers," she said. "I do not think that we can override the Privy Council ruling."

It's tempting to wonder whether another factor in this decision may have been that some ministers had already publicly taken an abolitionist stance.

They may not get to air those views again, though. The Government's Tobago retreat may well have included instruction on presenting a united front, since the Prime Minister did not approve of the rampant freedom of speech being exercised by her ministers.

"I have seen that this issue is being debated by persons in Cabinet outside of the Cabinet, which is regrettable," she told the media.

The errant ministers can't be reprimanded for breaching the rule of collective responsibility, however. That rule can apply only to government policies and decisions that Cabinet has already taken, and it was only on Thursday that Ms Persad-Bissessar explained, in her cryptic way, what government policy on capital punishment will be.

Until now, Works Minister Jack Warner, who is used to getting his own way, has felt free to express his opinion on anything under the sun, including matters that fall within other ministers' portfolios—and to attack anyone who disagreed with him, including former UNC Senator Verna St Rose -Greaves, for her position against the death penalty.

But Ms Persad-Bissessar's discreet warning suggests that errant ministers may now be reined in. Under the Westminster system, the penalty for breaching the principle of collective responsibility is political death: dissenting ministers must resign or expect to be dismissed. It remains to be seen whether the outspoken and opinionated Messrs Warner and Volney can learn to hold their tongues.