Progressive Labour Party spokesman Corey Butterfield has been sacked from his position -- but last night the party general secretary denied the move was related to a continuing public row over a discrimination claim with the Human Rights Commission.

Party chairman Neville Tyrrell said Mr. Butterfield was ousted from his position due to an "ongoing internal party matter'' and not because of the row with Government.

The announcement follows much publicised allegations made by Mr. Butterfield's employer, Hardell Group, that the Minister of Opportunity and Development, Terry Lister, had interfered with its discrimination complaint against the Bank of Bermuda.

Hardell claims the interference led to the human rights case being thrown out.

However, a Supreme Court order has recently been obtained by the company to get the case re-opened.

And the media company's president Harold Darrell also claimed that Mr. Lister was approaching members of the PLP to get them to sanction Mr. Butterfield, who is Hardell's general manager of operations, for speaking out against him.

"Responsibility of public relations has been taken away from him (Mr.

Butterfield),'' Mr. Tyrrell said last night.

"It is an internal matter within the party.'' And he said the Hardell complaint was "a Government matter, not a party matter''.

The Royal Gazette understands that the decision to remove Mr. Butterfield was taken at Monday's meeting of the PLP central committee.

Last night Mr. Butterfield was not available for comment.

However, he was sent support by party backbencher Derrick Burgess, who said he was shocked to hear of the sacking.

Mr. Burgess said that Mr. Butterfield's day job should not have been held against him and should have been viewed as completely separate from his party duties.

"Corey has to work days,'' said Mr. Burgess. "He doesn't work for the party full-time.

"I don't know what happened between Corey and the Minister, but to me there is no conflict. Corey has to earn a living. If he was a full-time employee of the party, that would be a different matter.'' And Mr. Burgess said he knew of no other party matter that might have led to his dismissal.

One party insider claimed that the move had to be directly related to the Hardell fiasco and called it "another example'' of party leadership's "spite and vindictiveness''.

And he described Mr. Butterfield as a "dedicated bulldog'' who was a rising star in the party.

Last night Mr. Lister claimed he also did not know anything about the sacking when The Royal Gazette called him at home.

PLP spokesman sacked He refused to be drawn on whether or not he felt the Hardell row was reason enough to sack Mr. Butterfield, or whether it had been a factor.

He added: "I didn't know anything about it and I'm not prepared to comment on Hardell in one way or another. It will probably be out there for some time yet and I will still never comment.'' The former executive officer of the Human Rights Commission, Neville Darrell, recounted his version of events in the Hardell racial discrimination complaint in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court last week.

He claimed that Mr. Lister's improper interference in the case forced him to resign his position with the HRC.

Last night Mr. Tyrrell said that whether or not Mr. Butterfield would return to his party position was "still open'' for consideration.

In the meantime however, Glenn Blakeney -- Mr. Butterfield's assistant -- will take over responsibility for PLP public relations.

Opposition Labour and Home Affairs spokesman Michael Dunkley said last night he hoped all of the facts of the issue would become clear.

"It comes at a very strange time when Mr. Butterfield seems to be tied up in this matter with Hardell and the Human Rights Commission,'' he said.

"It seems that if you speak out against the PLP or disagree with them in any way, they will just get rid of you. It's a serious situation because you need people to speak out because the party and the Government can not always be right.'' Corey Butterfield