This is the full text of the speech given at the PLP banquet on Saturday night by Premier Ewart Brown.

Good evening Cabinet Colleagues, Members of Parliament, Future Members of Parliament, Party Executives, Delegates, PLP Members and supporters,

That time has come. The words you waited so patiently to hear have been spoken. The General Election has been scheduled for Tuesday, December 18.

Tonight we join together like we have never joined together before. We move forward lock-step toward a victory for the people of Bermuda - We move forward SOLID, SOLID AS THE ROCK.

Because, with your support, your energy, your fortitude, your commitment, your hard work, your steely resolve, and your prayers, the winner of the election will be the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party. This party - your party - will win the government for the third straight time.

Why will we win?

Because we deserve to win. Because we have worked very hard and we have delivered very much.

Because we are the party of the people of Bermuda. We do not represent the chosen few. We represent the many.

We represent the fruition of the hard work of Dr. E.F. Gordon, Mr. L. Frederick Wade, Dr. Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego and Dame Lois Browne Evans. As we did at our Delegates Conference, I am going to ask you to stand for a brief moment of silence as we reflect on the lives and passing of Dr. Paualu and Dame Lois since our last Annual Banquet.

Tonight, I am not going to give you a lengthy speech on what we have done or what we will do. I am going to talk to you from my heart about the things I see, the things I feel, and the work we must continue to do.

Tonight, we begin the journey of 45 days - a journey we have never taken before under conditions we have never endured before. Each and every day will be critical. Each day you and I must awaken to the harsh reality that we are up against the most vicious and vile opponents in the history of our struggle. Remember that!!! And, take note of the fact that vicious and vile is not all they are. They are scared. They are terrified. That is why they have authored and executed a smear campaign of gigantic proportions.

You know what I am talking about - the non-stop media attack on my colleagues and me - lie after lie, horrible allegation after horrible allegation - all designed to convince you that I and my PLP government cannot be trusted.

Not one proven allegation. Not one cedar beam. Not one piece of paperwork that proves that the gate of my house was paid for by the Ministry of Transport. Not one shred of evidence to prove that I did not sell my house for fair value - quite the opposite, as substantiated by the fact that they will not sell it back to me.

Nada, nada, nada.

And some said to me, why don’t you deny and disprove these allegations? Why don’t you invite the media into your house to prove you do not have the cedar beams? Why are you pursuing a personal law suit against the local press? Why did you sue the newspapers on behalf of the government? Why are you attempting to suppress what the press has to say? What are you afraid of?

Let me start with the last question first and move backward. I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU, UBP. And I am not afraid of your lies.

Yes, a free press is vital to a democracy. But, the press, in cahoots with a morally bankrupt, desperate Opposition, is an irresponsible press when it prints unsubstantiated tales supposedly contained in a stolen police file about my colleagues and me.

I defended the right of all Bermudians to be free from the politics of personal destruction. On behalf of the Government and the people, we made the decision that we would pursue to the Privy Council the sanctity of police files and the right of every Bermudian to be free from targeted defamation based on their contents. As you know, the Privy Council ruled against us. I am disappointed that they rejected our petition. But believe you me, I have had worse nightmares than that. We fought valiantly for a principle in which we believed. That is what men and women do. That is what leaders do.

Hear this and hear this well: I have nothing to hide. But no one, including my PLP colleagues and myself, should be publicly persecuted and debased because of uncontested utterances found in a stolen police file. And, that is why I instituted the personal law suit.

The easiest course in the world for me would have been to invite media and anyone else in my home to look for cedar beams, because they do not exist. They never existed, milled or whole - in my closet, my ceiling, my bedroom, my living room - no place in my home now or ever. Cedar beams were always a non-starter - I read about them in the paper when you did.

So it would appear that I would have had nothing to lose by inviting one and all to come and take a look. Well, my friends, that might seem to some an easy course, but it is a cowardly and reckless one, for it is a course that has no good end. It is a course that sets a dangerous precedent.

It is a course that would have said that anytime in the future that they decide, they can hurl any unfounded allegation made by an anonymous source to attack a PLP leader. And that leader must kowtow and answer those allegations made by those anonymous sources. That leader must back pedal and disprove something that should not have been alleged in the first place, as in “When did you stop beating your wife?”

Not this leader, my friends - not this leader. That is their problem with me. That is why they have unceasingly attempted to discredit me. But they do not know me, and obviously, they do not know you.

They know that I have dared to lead the fight to dismantle a system based on white privilege. What they would prefer is a leader who is more like their followers - someone who does not deal with those types of issues.

They do not know that I am the humble, but proud son of Helene Darrell and D. A. Brown, parents just like yours - parents who worked hard to provide for me and equip me with the education and skills necessary to make a decent living for myself and my family.

They do not know that I was nurtured and taught by parents who told me to stand up for something or fall for everything.

What they do not know about you is that you can see beyond their smoke screens. They are amazed that I am still standing, because they do not know you, and they do not know the people of Bermuda.

They have tried to create and play up divisions among us. I saw Michael Dunkley last evening reeling from the news that an election had been called, trying to play the old divide and conquer game - lying to the country stating that my leadership was being threatened. The only vision he could possibly have of a leadership challenge will be his own, that will occur on December 18 when Patrice Minors defeats him and he is retired to his milkman duties full time.

Oh, if I could advise the UBP on the people of Bermuda, and tell them what they are missing!

They are missing the moral authority to talk about me. Stephen Covey of FranklinCovey writes “The only way to acquire moral authority is through your character and contribution, to live in such a way as to merit the confidence and the trust of other people.”

You see, if you want to see and identify injustice in this world, you cannot just come to my government to do it. You have to do it with your government. That’s how you get moral authority. You cannot draw an arbitrary line in history, and say let us go investigate the 5-year old BHC controversy and call it a scandal, if you are not going to go back to the 12-year old TeleBermuda trust and call it a sham.

You cannot ask me to explain a sale of a $600,000 house, that I have told the world about and sold in my own name, if you will not go back and talk about TBI. I still want to know about TBI. I challenge the UBP, particularly Grant Gibbons, in his own prolific way, to write a long letter to the editor of his newspaper about how he was a minister in government, changed hats, and set up a trust to reap millions in value from owning stock in TBI. Explain TBI to the Bermuda public; tell us how that was not a conflict of interest. Tell us that it would be okay for Neleatha Butterfield to find out about the satellite systems under her current ministry, change ministries, and then go form a trust so that she could make some money off of her government work. Condemn both actions by both parties, and then you will have some moral authority with the Bermuda public.

And, do not tell me yes, we admit that the old UBP did some bad things, but those were in the past. No, that is unacceptable… because it was not the old UBP. You are the same UBP, with some of the same players.

Yet, Michael Dunkley with his pious self-serving meanderings, wants to condemn me and my government. You cannot on the one hand ask me to answer uncorroborated, anonymous corruption allegations supposedly contained in a stolen police file, and not just as loudly condemn the fact that the file was stolen. What kind of leader is that? You want a Royal Commission to investigate the government with regard to the BHC - an investigation that was completed years ago and included Scotland Yard. But you, as a leader of the Opposition, are not highly offended by the fact that someone stole a police file - yet you are Mr. Law and Order?

You uphold the actions of an Auditor General and a demented deviant believed to be complicit in the theft of stolen documents. Your supporters would have the Auditor General called a whistleblower. Anyone aspiring to the leadership of this country should know what a whistleblower is. A whistleblower comes upon information during the course of his employ and blows the whistle on it to institute or assist in a proper investigation. A whistleblower is not a person who decides that he does not like the properly rendered decision of lawful prosecutorial bodies, so he goes on his own witch-hunt with fellow criminal abettors. That is what I call a vigilante.

Are you so blinded by your fear of my leadership that it would keep you from asking for what is right and decrying what is wrong? YOU AND YOUR UBP LACK THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

When your UBP first saw this stolen police file a couple of years ago, did you not have a moral responsibility to let the Police know that the file had been stolen? Did you not consider it your duty to turn in the people who gave it to you? Or, are you no better than any other recipient of stolen goods?

You hold onto them until you can use them. Under penalty of perjury, I invite each and every current member of the UBP to swear that you did not have knowledge of that stolen police file until recently.

YOU LACK THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

Until you disparage and repent for your own shenanigans as specifically as you castigate my party and me for any imagined appearance of impropriety, YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

When history is written by unbiased observers, the record will show that the PLP was the government of right. The UBP has made corruption, deceit, greed and telling lies the actions of the past and the expectation of the present. Each of the successive PLP governments has had to grapple with your legacy of greed, double-dealing and venality at the same time that we have had to grapple with your unsubstantiated claims of corruption against us. You have attempted to keep us in a tailspin, always defending ourselves, in spite of how hard we have worked for the people of the country…in spite of the good we have done - in spite of the good we do.

This is consistent with your response to misdeeds of the past - to cover massive sores with band-aids and platitudes and assume they will go away. Do not bring them up. Do not apologize for your wrongdoings. Never say you are sorry.

YOU HAVE NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

That is why you have no feeling and no stomach for legislation that would require affirmative action to remedy the effects of past discrimination against black people. You want to stick your heads in the sand, and say “Let black people be like everyone else”. ..”Let us have policies and laws that are the same for everyone”.

Well, black people are not like everyone else in this country. Our ancestors and our fathers and mothers, as black people - NOT AS BERMUDIANS — were the only people in this country who were enslaved and made to work for nothing, denied the right to vote, the right to earn money, the right to sit in a movie theatre, the right to keep property in Tucker’s Town.

Our hearts are still sore with the wounds inflicted by the white forefathers of Bermuda. And, you cannot rid us of our pain by saying, “That time is past…things are different now…stop dwelling on history and get over it.” You want to be the beneficiary of the riches of your ancestors - their wealth, their land, their white privilege - without taking responsibility for their debts. I am not a lawyer, but I know that Estate Law does not work like that. If you want to accept the assets of an estate, you must accept the liabilities.

This country owes black people, and we as a nation must try to find a way to pay our debts. That is what Workforce Equity is about. That is what the Big Conversation is all about. We are not saying to anyone, “Hire a black person who is not qualified”, or “Discriminate against everyone who is not black.” We are saying, “You must help a black person who is qualified.” We are saying that because of past discrimination, we do not know each other as well as we should know each other.

We are not part of each other’s natural network - not because we as Bermudians were SEPARATED in the past - but because we as black and white Bermudians were SEGREGATED in the past. We are still living with the remnants of that segregation. We cannot ignore that. We must acknowledge that in a healthy, non-recriminatory way, but acknowledge it we must. And make special accommodation for it, we must. Otherwise, it will always be there between us.

But, what else are we to expect from an Opposition whose leader, born in 1958, stands up and says he does not know about race in Bermuda - that he doesn’t see color?

We should expect exactly what we have gotten - an Opposition who blames the racial divide in Bermuda on me. And for those of you who are afraid of this kind of language and for those of you who think that I am polarizing this country, thumb through the pages of the Ombudsman’s report on racism at the Hospital. Young people in particular, if you think I am making it all up and that I am in some 60s time warp, then read a 2007 story of systemic and institutionalized racism in one of this country’s revered institutions. Do not buy what some folk are selling about my dividing this country on race. When I arrived from Helene Darrell Brown’s womb on the 17th of May, in the year 1946, I found this country polarized. I found this country where black people who spoke about race were considered troublemakers by blacks and whites alike.

Well, I will not shirk from the Big Conversation, Work Force Equity, Goodwill Plus, or any other program that healthily deals with the bitter racist legacy of Bermuda. I do not intend to leave this country as I found it. I believe in unity of the races, but unity without honesty is useless.

The words of a wise white leader, who was large in stature, discernment and grace, bear repeating on this subject. What U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson had the intelligence and understanding to say only 7 years after the Opposition leader was born was this:

“You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘ you are free to compete with all the others’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair……………Equal opportunity is essential, but not enough”.

I long and live for the day when there will be no need to have this discussion, when there will be no need to use affirmative action to remedy the effects of past discrimination, but that day is not here yet.

And, UBP, until you and your leader whose head is firmly planted in 1958 sand, acknowledge and deal with the issue of race fairly and squarely, YOU WILL HAVE NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

Until you acknowledge and apologize for many of your past lies and negative admonitions, YOU WILL HAVE NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY. And, I am not talking about the old UBP. I am talking about the new UBP with a few different characters.

Grant Gibbons, acknowledge that you were wrong when you declared loudly in 1998 that the lights would be out on international business if the PLP won the government.

Bob Richards, why do you still live here? You and your wife were going to move to South America, because you could not survive in Bermuda if the PLP were elected to power in 1998.

In the last several weeks, look at the monumental gaffes and blatant falsehoods that have come from the Opposition. First, they lied and said that our limousine legislation was passed for one man, and that my “ruthless and controlling personality” rammed it through the Legislature so that this one man could be up and running by the time of the PGA Grand Slam - A blatant lie - yet no retraction from the Opposition.

Then there was the one about the second cruise pier in Dockyard and the claim that whatever we were doing up there was without planning permission. Another blatant lie - and no retraction from the Opposition.

Then it was TCD - we had started to build there without planning permission…we were “arrogant and felt we were not bound by the law of the land”. Yet another lie.

And, do not forget about the election date that was August 16th on the basis of a confidential PLP memo that nobody in the PLP ever wrote or saw - maybe the memo was stolen like the police file. Maybe the UBP moral lesson to our young people is “Beware of receiving stolen goods.”

THEY HAVE NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO RUN THIS COUNTRY.

And importantly, what about the Public Television station that the UBP boycotted? What about that station that tells the story of everyday Bermudians, where we can see our sons, daughters, uncles and cousins, where we can learn more about our culture? Where is your apology, UBP, to the many government workers and women and men of Bermuda who work tirelessly to bring this to our homes? When will you admit that you were wrong?

Meanwhile, the UBP claims that our success in Tourism is not real - They, whose former Tourism Minister was at the same time the owner and operator of a major hotel property in Bermuda. This is the new UBP - they never acknowledged that this was wrong - that this was yet another blatant conflict of interest. I defy and challenge them now to say as specifically as they accuse me or my colleagues of all sorts of baseless misbehavior, to state categorically that this was wrong.

Until you acknowledge and call out wrongdoing in your own house, YOU LACK THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO CALL IT OUT IN MINE.

Stay with me, because it gets better - or worse - depending on your perspective. Take a drive with me on South Shore and glance over at the Reefs and witness the multi-million dollar tourism development on our precious South shore coastline by this same former Tourism Minister, who still refuses to give this PLP government credit for turning tourism around - who criticizes this PLP government all the way to the bank.

The UBP is a morally bankrupt party that speaks with a forked tongue over and over and over again.

Snide, nasty personalities like Bob Richards should eat his words because he got it all wrong on the Limos. It shows you the absence of quality in the UBP camp.

When Grant Gibbons, who knows much more about corruption than he knows about stem cells, becomes a poster boy for the Mid-Ocean News, it shows the lack of quality in the UBP camp.

All the UBP has proven they know how to do is lie, hurl allegations after us, and mix up their box of color crayons to see who looks best in front of the camera from day to day. Isn’t it striking - I dare say misleading - that Grant Gibbons, John Baritt, and Trevor Moniz have not been prominently displayed on TV for the UBP? I know a little about Hollywood. I know that just because you take a screen test does not mean that you get a part to play, and that just because you have a speaking part does not mean that you have a significant role - many times, you are just a bit player.

Now, let me move on to why I have to share some of these harsh realities with you this evening.

I have to tell you about the moral bankruptcy of the UBP because The Royal Gazette, the Mid-Ocean News, and the Bermuda Sun will not. And I have to tell you that in the context of Michael Dunkley’s proclaiming just yesterday that I am a threat to this island’s reputation for integrity.

I am not the threat, Michael. I am just not going to roll over and take the whipping you and your boys planned for me. There is a time for quiet conciliation, and there is a time for bold confrontation. The UBP, with the help of The Royal Gazette and the Mid-Ocean News, will stop at nothing to try to take this government back from the people. You and your relentless, unwarranted, savage, malicious, and selfish pursuit of Ewart Brown and the PLP government are bringing this country into disrepute.

The PLP and its supporters are not the ones who write all of these lies and unsubstantiated allegations about Bermuda - some of which are intentionally planted in the international press to bring pressure on you at home to view the PLP government unfavorably.

This government defended itself. We are not the ones that started this ridiculous soap opera. It was the Mid-Ocean News and the UBP. Their problem came along when someone forgot to give me my script.

This government did not stand upon an imaginary high horse and call for a Royal Commission to investigate the 5-year old BHC affair that had been investigated by every authority in the Western hemisphere - just because it did not like the results of the investigation.

This government did not recently write the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in another political ploy to throw a negative light on me through attacking my private medical practice.

And, probably one of the most dastardly acts I have ever seen committed by a free press was recently committed here in Bermuda. On Monday, October 15, 2007 - a day when the eyes of the world were upon Bermuda because we had 4 of its greatest golfers gathered here along with throngs of reporters to begin the PGA Grand Slam of Golf - our local daily did not mention the tournament until Page 8. The Royal Gazette chose as its headline and subject of its first 4 pages, “A Miracle Cure? Don’t Be Misled” - The pun was intended.

Now, there was no breaking news in any of the copy written on these pages. There were just many references to me as Premier and to my wife and partners and our stem cell research facility, couched under articles like “The Mystery of Winterhaven”, and “Worldwide Hype May Leave People Open to Exploitation”. But there was no news that had to be printed on that day. There was nothing time sensitive about the material that was written. All of that content could have been written last week, or next week for that matter - without changing a single word.

So, on a day when the papers were being read by the foreign press more than any other day in memory… On a day when the papers could have been filled with articles on the Grand Slam, celebrating the first day of a tournament which means so much to our tourism efforts, celebrating the wonders of our beautiful Bermuda, The Royal Gazette published an article filled with gratuitous defamation of the character of Bermuda’s Premier.

And Michael Dunkley has the unmitigated gall to say that Ewart Brown threatens the island’s reputation for integrity.

Would a deserving, observing leader not notice this transgression -not against me - he does not need to defend me - but against his so-called beloved Bermuda? Why wouldn’t someone who speaks out on everything else not speak out about what a disservice The Royal Gazette did to Bermuda on that day? Why not?

Because Michael Dunkley, his UBP party, and The Royal Gazette exercise selective morality. The only time they mount that imaginary high horse is to try to come after me and the PLP government. They collectively want to win the government back by any means necessary - even at the expense of Bermuda.

There are countless examples of the press over-stating and amplifying lies, and understating or ignoring the truth and good work of the PLP. Do you remember the picture of our party chairman plastered across the front page of the Mid-Ocean News with a totally fabricated story?

What about the Music Festival? On the Monday after the Music Festival, when the entire island was celebrating the most wonderful festival ever and its fabulous and successful move to the National Sports Centre, The Royal Gazette’s headline was “Premier Brands Music Festival a Success.” Give me a break!!!!.............. “Premier BRANDS Music Festival a Success.”

Oh no, Royal Gazette, don’t quote some of the 12,000 plus ticket holders who attended, and are talking all over the island and abroad about the Festival. And, certainly do not believe your Premier, or your lying eyes and ears.

And, where Charles Gosling makes a positive statement that he believes that I am a “fantastic man”, and that the increased business tourism numbers are being experienced as a direct result of the government’s efforts, that line is buried at the bottom of the article.

These are just a few examples of the press and its dealings with your Premier - with your party - and things are only going to get worse - certainly after tonight - and certainly after they may feel free to print some of the lies contained in their stolen police file.

But as I have said before, and I will repeat - I have nothing to hide. And at this point, they have given me little to lose - just more claims of action for my personal defamation law suit. Because while they can print what they want, they should go on notice that they print at their own risk. My name is all I came into this world with, and it is all I am leaving behind. I am going to vigorously defend it.

During the course of the past few months, I have been called everything but the child of God, and accused of all manner of evil deeds. Anonymous writings have been sent home to my wife accusing me of affairs and various personal transgressions. But, they do not know my wife.

Neville Tyrell called me the hardest working man in politics. Well, meet one of the hardest praying wives in politics. She turned to me and said, “Honey, look at what this horrible person is saying about you,” and then she burned their letter. And, that is the only discussion we have ever had on that particular pack of lies. I am a blessed man.

I may not wear my religion on my shoulder, but I believe that:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.” (Psalms 27:1-2)

That is what the UBP, with its massive army of Ewart-attackers will do - they will stumble and fall. They will stumble and fall because I answer to a power higher than a Royal Commission.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” (Psalms 121:1)

I am protected by a power greater than the Privy Council.

“God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalms 46:1)

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer. The God of my rock, in him will I trust; HE is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour…” (2 Samuel 22:2-3)

I want to humbly thank you tonight. I want to thank all of you for the support, prayers and comfort you have offered over the last several months. There are countless ones of you who have stopped my wife and me as we go along our way to say that you pray for us every day, or that you have prayed for us after a particularly egregious assault has taken place. You are the wind beneath our wings. God bless you.

I am sharing all of this with you because it is important for each and every one of you to know how serious this battle will be. They want this government badly, and they have the press, the money, and the character actors on board to put on a good show. They will not win, but we must take nothing for granted.

We have 45 days of hard labor to do, and each day must be fully utilized. We must register EVERY SUPPORTER of the PLP and we must physically see that these voters get to the polls on December 18. There is no room for excuses or complacency. History will not understand if we return this government to the architects of deception and pain. History will not forgive us if we do not crush the authors of the nastiest smear campaign in our history.

It was P. J. Patterson, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, who once said that the best response to a pack of lies is massive results.

We must win this election seat by seat, doorstep by doorstep, voter by voter. We must win, because we cannot stop the progress now - we can not turn over Bermuda at this time of great expectations to a Michael Dunkley-led government. We cannot go backwards now.

Our work is not done. When we committed to changing Bermuda in 1998, we spoke in terms of making this Island a better place for all Bermudians. We set out a vision for this country which meant wholesale change in the way we had lived and worked for centuries. With God’s help and the trust of the people, we set about making a New Bermuda, recognizing that change is a process and not an event.

Our work has been extensive and rewarding, but it is not done. We inherited something broken and busted, and we are still fixing it.

It is onward and upward for us now. Join with me in renewing our pledge to the people of this country who first asked us to change this beautiful island for the better almost a decade ago. Stand with me as a united force, solid as a rock, determined to deliver what we promised. Go from here tonight and reflect on the task ahead. When you knock on the doors and come face to face with the hardworking people of this land, go armed with your government’s record of outstanding achievement. And, when they ask you why the PLP should be returned to their service, tell them that the PLP work is not yet done.

Tell them that the PLP government has a vision for this country that includes all of its people - that the PLP government is their government, made up of people whose mother’s and father’s names they know - whose history and future is inextricably tied with the working man’s. Walk with our litany of accomplishments, and our basket of hope. Share the dream of a productive present, and a brighter future for all Bermudians.

And if they ask how we will accomplish our third victory, tell them that we know hard work and we know God. Tell them that we have those magnificent PLP guardian angels watching over us, guiding our steps and our discourse - that we will gather all of the pieces of our beloved Bermuda together to re-elect the Progressive Labour Party government - black and white, young and old, poor and rich.

The PLP will take those unique pieces and build them up and build them up and build them up until we MOVE BERMUDA FORWARD.

Then, as a nation that has fulfilled its aspirations, our country can stand out as a beacon to the world and we can say for all to hear:

We are SOLID, SOLID, SOLID AS THE ROCK !!!

Thank you. God bless you and God bless Bermuda.