Conceding that he has had a longstanding relationship with the family of Prime Minister Patrick Manning, political scientist Prof Selwyn Ryan says this has not stopped him from criticising the head of the Cabinet once he felt it was in the national interest.

Ryan, who is a columnist with the Express, made the comment in an interview with the Sunday Express last week in response to questions about a letter he wrote Manning after the People’s National Movement (PNM) won the 1991 general elections in which he wrote he was ’going to have a difficult time criticising’ the Prime Minister in his column.

The letter was attached to another that Ryan sent Manning on October 20 last year in which he excused himself from a meeting of the round table that prepared the working document on the draft constitution.

Last week, Ryan confirmed that the did write the letter to Manning in 1991 and told the Sunday Express the reasons why as he said they had known each other since they were very young.

’The first (1991) letter that was written many, many years ago and was informed from the fact that I have know the Mannings for a very, very long time and what is not generally understood that Mr Manning and I came from the same part of the country literally two streets apart. I have always had an interest in his career but was often accused of being very lenient on him in my criticism,’ Ryan said.