Craig Cannonier, sworn in as Premier on December 18, 2012, has remained in office little more than 17 months — the shortest term in Bermuda’s history.

A businessman for most of his life, Mr Cannonier was 46 when he threw his hat in the ring as a candidate for the Bermuda Democratic Alliance in November, 2009.

The St David’s native billed himself as an agent of unity and change, citing popular frustration with Bermuda’s racially entrenched political scene.

Mr Cannonier told The Royal Gazette in 2010 that Bermuda needed to break free from the “us versus them” mentality.

Frustrated by bickering between the governing Progressive Labour Party and the opposition United Bermuda Party, Mr Cannonier said: “As soon as I walked into the House of Assembly, it was very evident things need to change.

“You have the UBP on one side and the PLP on the other, and the bantering that goes on within is just childish.”

He had relatives on either side of Bermuda’s political divide: the late PLP MP Larry Lowe and former United Bermuda Party Jim Woolridge.

Mr Cannonier and his wife Antoinette also have four children: Lakilah Spencer, Mikaela Ian Pearman, Samaela Cannonier and Trae Cannonier.

A graduate of Towson State University in Maryland, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial psychology in 1986, Mr Cannonier worked with the MarketPlace Group and later became the general manager of People’s Pharmacy.

He subsequently became an operator of three gas stations: Esso City Tigermarket, Collector’s Hill Esso and Warwick Esso.

Impatient with the established political order, he was also motivated to join politics by the economic recession.

In a recent opinion piece, he wrote: “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t hear from people struggling to survive, because of a job lost, because they can’t find one or because their take home pay is no longer enough.”

A member of the Marsden First United Church, Mr Cannonier’s evangelical style came to the fore at the BDA’s inaugural conference on February 20, 2010, when he defeated contender Myron Piper to become leader of the BDA.

Mr Cannonier’s victory made him the first non-MP to stand at the helm of a political party in Bermuda.

When the One Bermuda Alliance was forged in May, 2011, from a merging of the BDA with members of the UBP, veteran UBP politician John Barritt initially took charge.

Mr Cannonier was appointed to the Senate that June — and, on September 10, 2011, he edged out Bob Richards in a close-fought contest to lead the fledgling OBA.

On November 1, 2011, Mr Cannonier defeated the PLP’s Anthony Richardson in a by-election for Devonshire South Central, winning 504 out of 608 votes.

His three-year career culminated with the OBA’s defeat of the PLP, by 19 to 17, on December 17, 2012.

Striking a conciliatory note with the new Opposition, Mr Cannonier told the gathering at Government House: “I will be extending my arms to them, to ensure that we truly move forward together.”

He pledged “a new Bermuda and a new day in politics”.

However, the OBA’s first major challenge came just a few months later, when Mr Cannonier accepted a trip to Washington, DC, for what he initially called “an exchange of information” with US developer Nathan Landow.

The March 20, 2013 trip with Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell and Attorney General Mark Pettingill was infamously branded Jetgate by the PLP’s Rolfe Commissiong in a stormy session of Parliament on May 31.

Initially dismissed by the Premier as a non-issue whipped into controversy by the Opposition, Jetgate ultimately proved Mr Cannonier’s undoing.

Saturday’s crisis meeting by the OBA fell 17 months after the party’s election victory. It was also Mr Cannonier’s 51st birthday.