It was wrong to reveal in Parliament that threats had been made to Government Ministers, Public Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin told the House of Assembly.

Issuing an apology to MPs, a chastened Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she’d been “soundly admonished” for speaking on topics that fell under the purview of police or National Security.

Rising at 1am in the Motion to Adjourn after Friday’s 11-hour sitting of the House, the One Bermuda Alliance MP said she wouldn’t reveal who had requested to have their GP licence plate number changed — as it had been forwarded to her in an e-mail marked as confidential.

However, she said she’d accidentally misspoken on the matter, telling the House: “I’ve been accused of a lot of things, but not telling the truth is never one of them.”

The issue of threats became public last week, when the Public Works Minister raised the matter in Parliament.

Seeking to clarify the issue, the Minister on Friday said she’d been sent an e-mail on February 18 by her acting Permanent Secretary.

“The subject was the exchange of GP plate licence numbers,” Ms Gordon-Pamplin said, calling it “a request concerning the exchange”.

“That e-mail effectively says that it has been recommended that the licence plate number be changed to a private number.”

She said she should have kept to the topic of the licence changes, and “not any threats that may have emanated”.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she’d also erred in telling MPs the security advice had come from Special Branch.

“The email indicated that there was a liaison with the BPS intelligence section. I responded ‘special branch’. I believed they were one and the same. I was made to understand that they are different.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Derrick Burgess rose to query the rationale behind switching licence numbers, saying the idea seemed “silly in a place like Bermuda”.

“I’m really happy to know that if I want to be safe, all I have to do is change the number on my car,” the Hamilton East MP added. “That is cheap security.”

Mr Burgess also declared himself “appalled” that security issues had been publicly aired in the House, saying the Public Works Minister’s responsibility was just for GP cars, not their security.

The decision lay strictly with National Security Minister Michael Dunkley, he said.

Mr Dunkley told the House that only three Ministers drive a GP car on a regular basis, accusing the Opposition of being sensitive on the issue because under the PLP administration, “even some of those who were consultants or senators” had used them.

“We don’t have any problem with GP cars on this side,” Mr Dunkley said. “The problem is with the proper use of GP cars.”

Tempers ran high, with Speaker Randolph Horton warning MPs “not to end the night in the gutter”.

PLP MP Zane DeSilva was ordered to take his seat after rising to contest Mr Dunkley’s accusation that the Opposition would do “anything to derail the way this Government wants to govern”.

Mr Dunkley also threatened to reveal “all the consultants” used by the PLP, telling the House PLP MP Rolfe Commissiong had been paid $8,000 a month.

Irritated by interruptions, Mr Horton declared: “I am going to close this House down in a minute if we can’t behave — I am not going to sit here at 1.40am for this foolishness.”

After Mr Dunkley closed by saying that Government wouldn’t be deterred by “catcalls from the other side”, Mr Horton brought the gavel down, declaring: “We’re going home.”