“Jetgate” returned to dog the One Bermuda Alliance Government as MPs clashed across the House of Assembly floor over the 2013 political scandal.

It followed Wednesday’s online publication by independent reporter Ayo Johnson of a feature on the OBA leadership’s association with US developer Nathan Landow.

Premier Craig Cannonier rose during the debate in the Motion to Adjourn to brand allegations in the article “a lie”, saying he had already refuted them in statements made this week.

And Community and Cultural Affairs Minister Wayne Scott meanwhile claimed Mr Johnson had publicly said that he is “working for the Progressive Labour Party” and that “his number one goal is to bring down the Premier”.

Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell said of the March 2013 trip to Washington, DC: “I was there. And there was nothing untoward about that trip.”

Mr Crockwell repeatedly assured the House of Assembly that “nothing untoward” occurred, even as Opposition MPs repeatedly challenged called on Government to “come clean” about the junket.

The Tourism Minister allowed that “taking a jet there was bad aesthetics” — and Junior Minister of Home Affairs Sylvan Richardson expressed displeasure at the decisions made on the trip.

Various members of the OBA assured the House that the allegations in Mr Johnson’s article, based on anonymous sources, added up to “nothing”.

Shadow Immigration Minister Walton Brown countered that the criticism of the article was an attack on the media, describing Ayo Johnson as a Bermudian equivalent of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the journalists who broke the US Watergate scandal in the 1970s.

He also defended the use of anonymous sources, saying that the rule of thumb in investigative journalism is to use such information only if it can be verified by two sources.

“There are other pieces that have not been published today, from what I understand, because [Mr Johnson] hasn’t been able to get double verification,” Mr Brown said.

Kim Wilson said Government has made inconsistent statements about the controversy, leading to doubt in the court of public opinion.

“The public generally have far more questions than answers, particularly as it relates to Jetgate,” she said.

Glenn Blakeney described the controversy as the single most significant issue he has spoken to in his ten years in office, saying it impacted the public’s ability to trust the Government.

And Shadow Finance Minister David Burt criticised Premier Craig Cannonier’s blanket denial, saying he was shocked the Government Ministers had spoken up in support of it.

“You can’t say some of it is right and some of it is wrong,” he said. “All of it is right or all of it is wrong, and I believe all of it is correct.”

He said the allegations against the Premier included in the article must be addressed to secure the Island’s international reputation, but that the Premier has no intention of “coming clean”.

“The One Bermuda Alliance, the 18 members, have a chance to act,” he said. “They have a retreat tomorrow to discuss party business. My hope is that during that meeting they remember the constitution of their own party.”

Shortly before 9pm, Mr Cannonier rose to tell the House: “I’m not going to entertain this” — adding that the Opposition sought merely to get him “riled up and excited”.

Calling Jetgate “a runaway train”, he criticised the time spent on the debate, saying: “Why don’t we spend some more time on the issues that concern this country?”