?I am sorry it has come to this, but after a lifetime of service to the Labour Party and 23 years in the House of Commons I think I am entitled to discuss what has gone wrong with the Government and our political system in my remaining years as an MP. It is my view that our political system is in trouble and that the exaggerated majorities in the House of Commons have led to an abject Parliament and a concentration of power in (the Prime Minister?s office) that has produced arrogant, error-prone government?.? last week, upon resigning the Whip in the House of Commons and becoming an ?Independent? Labour MP, largely because of ?disgust? over Prime Minister Blair?s support of the Iraq War

?All political lives end in failure.? ? , former British Conservative cabinet minister

@EDITRULE:

Before proceeding, I should like to set out another quotation which I shall attribute to my late grandmother Mother Mary Phillips, who (although she may not have originated it) often said it to me: ?When humans plan, God laughs.?

I was looking yesterday at a copy of the November 10, 1998 edition of the Bermuda Sun, headlined ?PLP VICTORY ? UBP stunned?. A smaller headline read ?As three decades of power abruptly end, time for the UBP to step back, regroup and assess how it all went wrong?.

It is likely that the UBP have since 1998 learned to their chagrin, frustration and dismay that being the party in Opposition in our version of the ?Westminster? system of democracy, can be habit-forming. And those habits can be very hard to shake off. Yes, the UBP were ?stunned? in 1998; but they seem to have gotten over it.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Labour Party appears to have throughout the ensuing period largely remained just that: stunned. Being in Opposition became very habit-forming indeed for them as well; to the extent that, in Government, one gets the impression that they have forgotten the true results of the last two General Elections.

How could a PLP administration have so dismally mismanaged our progress towards constitutional independence for Bermuda, having regard to the fact that the goal of Independence for Bermuda is, and always has been, a key plank in the Party?s own constitution?

What, to be really frank, is the true state of health of the Bermuda Labour Movement in all its components, aims and goals?

Why are Bermuda?s youth more alienated from, frustrated with and turned off by the political process?

Where are we in our quest for transparent, open and participatory democracy?

Where are we in our quest for economic empowerment?

Why are Bermudians increasingly insecure regarding housing, employment, job opportunities, and the cost of living?

Which is it? Are we going to be just tough on crime, or tough on the causes of crime? Can we get it right?

Why are we still struggling to make workable a political system that was designed in the first place to keep the majority of our people down?

I have been encouraged to write this piece in the run-up to the Progressive Labour Party leadership election scheduled for later this week.

You may be a delegate chosen to vote at the conference. On that basis, I warn you at once that my primary aim in writing this article is to set out who I favour for the leadership of the Party (and, incidentally, leadership of the country) and why.

I also caution that you should not allow yourself to be bullied (yes, this happens) or cajoled by anyone, least of all me. And, for those of you who may be new to this process, I say that all this talk about delegates from particular constituencies voting as ?a block? is unconstitutional, irresponsible and manipulative. It is also just plain wrong; and it makes a mockery of a process which is itself in need of serious revamping and modernisation. But that, perhaps, is another article.

Each and every delegate at this Leadership Conference has a conscience and a vote which he or she should employ after serious personal deliberation. There are truly weighty and monumental issues at stake here which extend well beyond personalities and factions; indeed well beyond Party. You are about to make a decision which will affect your country.

I extend these cautions because you may well not want any ?outside influence? to affect the very weighty decision to which you believe your conscience, and your conscience alone, must guide you in making a decision which will affect not just the entire country, but possibly the next two generations of Bermudians. If you take that view, I suggest you read no further.

On the other hand, you may ? like me ? believe that so much is at stake that the entire leadership debate should have been more in the open.

Again, we are talking about the leadership of our country. Quite how you were either elected or selected to become a ?delegate? (a misnomer, because no delegate has, to the best of my knowledge, actually polled the people in his or her area to see what the constituency actually wants him or her to do) will, as you know, vary from constituency to constituency.

You may well have been in a position to select yourself; such is the curious nature of the PLP?s constitutional framework. Either way, you will by now have survived a vetting and confirmation process which, particularly in a leadership election year, tends to be both gruelling and extensive.

For example, the election (or selection) of one friend of mine as a delegate (let him remain nameless) did not survive; it was quickly reversed by the upper echelons of the Party. Apparently, this young man had paid his dues on September 1st and, because the constitutional deadline for being ?financial? just happens to be August 31, he is now de-selected, or dis-elected, as the case may be.

I say at once that while I have had some problems from time to time (as do all of us, let?s be honest) ?hanging? with the PLP or any organisation of which we are a member, never has either my attachment or my sense of loyalty to, the Bermuda Labour Movement (and there is a distinction) varied one iota.

I am a child of the Labour Movement; not just because my uncle Joe Mills was one of the earlier presidents of the Bermuda Industrial Union and I witnessed as a child his suffering first hand; but also because, unlike many Bermudians younger than me I truly recognise the accomplishments and history of the Bermuda Labour Movement in bringing about real and positive social and political change for all Bermudians, including myself.

Indeed, the sad truth for me is that it is the treatment by the last two PLP administrations of the Labour Movement and its broader aims and goals which have caused me the greatest concern and disquiet.

But that, again, is an entirely separate ? and larger ? piece.

There is something fundamentally wrong in Bermuda with the attitude taken by too many of us towards confident, black men.

I mean really confident men who say what they mean and mean what they say and who have no fear whatsoever about the consequences of speaking the truth as they see it and, more importantly, speaking truth to power. This is having a fundamentally deleterious effect upon our young people. Too many of us, steeped in our collective history of self-abuse and self-hatred, fall into the error of equating ?confidence? with ?arrogance?.

We wait patiently for the downfall of the more confident among us, with the result that we pass on to our young people that same timidity and diffidence by which we have, as a people, held ourselves back for so very long.

And we must also face squarely the fact that as Bermudians we are yet to master the fine art of disagreeing on principle while at the same time maintaining respect for free individual expression and for the harvest that can be reaped from cohesion and unity and a truly inclusive approach to solving our problems. Many of us long for a truly united Bermuda Labour Movement, one that is shorn of ?factions? and ?camps? and uninterested in arguments based on mere ?personality?.

Too many of us, in short, just refuse and/or are afraid to think ?outside the box?. How else do you explain that over seven years of PLP administration has failed to effect any significant systemic change in a decades? (arguably centuries?) old UBP system?

We can all appreciate the virtues of ?conservatism?, of (to use Sir Henry Tucker?s phrase as he urged his colleagues to create the UBP and to accept the wisdom of racial and social integration) ?making haste slowly?. No one wants change simply for the sake of change. But fear of change continues to be our downfall; and it continues to rob our children of their heritage.

The ?Victory Party? is over. It is time to clean up the room and wash the dishes and set the table for tomorrow?s breakfast. We must take this island to a higher level. It is time for the PLP to stop trying to ?out-UBP the UBP? and to think outside the box.

With limited exceptions, the past seven years have seen stagnation, or worse ? just about all the available oxygen has been sucked out of the island; and it is almost too late. Opportunities are consistently being stared in the face, and missed.

On many occasions, and indeed long before he ? be it remembered, quite by accident ? became Premier of Bermuda, I heard my dear friend the Hon. Alex Scott declare that it was his intention ?to stay with the struggle until it is time to turn off the lights?.

It was meant to be a humorous quip, and it was invariably taken to be funny.

At the same time, however, it left none of us in any doubt that there resides in Alex Scott a bottomless well of dedication, more than amply demonstrated by his apparently 24-7 commitment to Bermuda and the Bermudian people in general, and the Progressive Labour Party in particular. I regard Alex Scott as a dear personal friend.

Again, I loathe talk of ?factions? and ?camps? and I find it ever so difficult to be negative about Alex.

Yet, while the potential harm to both the Labour Movement and Bermuda that could result from this latest leadership ?showdown? between the Premier and his former deputy, Dr. the Hon. Ewart Brown is indeed massive, we are genuinely at a crossroads.

Bermuda, the PLP, the Labour Movement. And we must make a clear and sober decision.

But what if the Premier, who intends to ?stay with the struggle until it is time to turn off the lights? has become so blinded by the dust of political battle that he can no longer see that the lights are already almost out?

I truly believe that it is time for a change; time to move to another level. Time for thinking outside the box. Time to take us to a higher level.

Dr. Ewart F. Brown MP is manifestly a leader who can, and does, think outside the box.

While some, particularly certain taxi drivers, may differ with his approach, he has clearly excelled as a Cabinet Minister in his portfolios of Tourism and Transport. You cannot argue with success. The loss of Dr. Brown from the Cabinet leaves a gaping void. Yes, as Charles de Gaulle said ?there are many indispensable men in the grave?; but this is clearly a man whose time has come; and he is with us offering himself and his energy.

Already Dr. Brown has properly and correctly shifted the focus of the debate on Bermuda?s proposed new hospital from ?where? it should be placed, to ?what? it should be.

On the issue of Independence, Dr. Brown recognises that there is now a formidable array of reasons for forging real links with the outside world beforehand so as to ensure that an Independent Bermuda will at least have a stab at arranging that Bermudians will have the same visa-free travel and work options throughout Europe and elsewhere as they currently do since the departure of Hong Kong from the UK colonial orbit.

Dr. Brown calls for the establishment of a true Bermudian ?apprenticeship? programme to be entrenched within the psyche of our international business partners.

He will speak to the captains of international business as our hopefully permanent partners, not as our temporary landlords.

He means what he says and says what he means. There is no ambiguity in his promises.

I truly believe that Dr. Ewart Brown can and will take us to a higher level. I also believe that our children deserve nothing less.

And, on that basis, I wish him and Alex Scott well. We must move on? and, I pray that we shall move on together.