Former Deputy Premier Jerome Dill has refused to comment about speculation he might be planning a political comeback.

Mr. Dill recently announced his retirement from private law practice after 21 years with Appleby Hunter Bailhache.

Sources within the United Bermuda Party said they believed Mr. Dill, who served as an MP between 1991 and 1998 including a spell as Deputy Premier from 1995 to 1998, was one of several exciting names thinking about standing at the next election.

However Mr. Dill, who had spells as Education Minister and Cultural Affairs Minister, would not be drawn when contacted by .

One MP said: ?He is clearly the kind of Cabinet material the party has to be looking for.

?He has a bright, clear mind.? Another party source also said Mr. Dill?s name was being mentioned in UBP circles. Mr. Dill lost the Pembroke West Central seat alongside running mate Anne Cartwright DeCouto in the Progressive Labour Party landslide of 1998.

Party insiders were speculating Mr. Dill, 46, would try to get the nomination for the Pembroke West seat being vacated at the next election by Jamahl Simmons who quit the party recently after alleging a racist faction was out to oust him. One MP told : ?It could be shaping up as a race between him and Erwin Adderley.

?He brings a lot more energy than Adderley and, all things being equal, gives us a few more years.?

However the MP feared Mr. Dill, a staunch conservative, could shift the party to the right and give electors the impression the party was full of either whites or right wing blacks.