Senator Terry Lister's apparent bid for the Progressive Labour Party leadership came under more heavy fire yesterday. PLP spokesman Ms Paula Cox said it violates Bermuda's Constitution.

And former PLP MP Mr. Julian Hall said Sen. Lister "has a lot to learn about the history of Bermuda's labour movement,'' and is "a shade too reactionary for my ever having been able to support him.'' The 40-year-old accountant's challenge to the man who named him a Senator "smacks of biting the hand that feeds you,'' Mr. Hall said.

The PLP has "a fine stand of potential leaders with real Parliamentary experience,'' Mr. Hall said. In no particular order, they included Ms Jennifer Smith MP, Dr. Ewart Brown MP, Mr. David Allen MP, and Mr. Alex Scott MP.

However, "I don't think anybody at this stage wants to challenge the leadership, because it's potentially suicidal to the party,'' Mr. Hall said.

"That's what suprises me about Terry Lister's move at this time.'' Sen. Lister, meanwhile, maintained his silence as the PLP prepares for next week's party conference that culminates in a leadership vote on Thursday. The PLP's 21 MPs and Senators and 40 to 50 conference delegates are eligible to vote on the leadership. Mr. Frederick Wade MP, Opposition Leader since 1985, is the only person who has officially declared himself.

Sen. Lister has not publicly declared his candidacy, but "we all know it within the party,'' said Mr. Hall, who will be attending the conference but not voting on the leadership.

Ms Cox said that if PLP members consider Sen. Lister's elgibility, the timing of the challenge, and whether it is in the best interests of the party, "I think that we will probably see that Mr. Wade's leadership will be confirmed.'' Section 72 of the Constitution says the Governor will appoint as Opposition Leader "the member of the House of Assembly'' who leads the largest opposition party. And Mr. Hall said the PLP Constitution allows only MPs to seek the party leadership. "He gets around it by saying he makes the leadership challenge on the basis that someone in a `safe' seat will step down and give him his seat and allow him to run,'' Mr. Hall said. However, "the seat is not the Parliamentarian's to give.'' Mr. Wade has led the party to two general election defeats. But Ms Cox noted that when Mr. Wade was chosen leader the PLP only held seven seats, and today it has 18. "Anyone who has the interests of the party at heart has to look at what is going to be the fall-out and what is going to be the impact on our electoral fortunes,'' she said.

Mr. Hall said the PLP has "a curious habit of...starting to get jittery just on the eve of victory.'' Most recently, a challenge to Mrs. Lois Browne Evans from Mr. Gilbert Darrell in the early 1980s led to the expulsion of several PLP MPs, the formation of the National Liberal Party, and a crushing PLP defeat in the 1985 general election, he said.

"My first instinct is that word of any challenge to the current leadership makes me very nervous for the party,'' said lawyer Mr. Hall, who lost his seat in Hamilton West in the October, 1983 general election.

"At the same time, a change is as good as a rest. I think every healthy political party should review its leadership and its direction on a periodic basis.'' That time has come in both the PLP and the United Bermuda Party, Mr. Hall said. "Bermuda is stagnating, largely as a result of the refusal on the part of the old order to give way to the new.

"The fact that there is going to be some kind of leadership challenge speaks only of the democracy that is in the party itself.'' "Freddie Wade may well find that through no fault of his own, it's time for the party to show a new face,'' Mr. Hall said. While he was happy to have Mr.

Wade lead the PLP into the next election, he did not know what Bermuda wanted.

"I do hear -- and let's face it, it seems to have some substance to it, that Lister under heavy fire From Page 1 as having the appropriate amount of charisma,'' Mr. Hall said. "He doesn't inspire as many Bermudians from as many diverse backgrounds as perhaps he could or should.'' Sen. Lister, a partner at Deloitte & Touche, "is in a very rare category of black Bermudians who have achieved both apparent professional and financial success and who has not yet been shot down.'' But Mr. Hall did not feel that meant "he will be a good leader either of the party, of the labour movement, or of the Country.'' While Sen. Lister might make "an excellent Finance Minister...it takes more than being a successful accountant or a successful lawyer to lead a party, particularly one that has its roots in the rank and file workers of this Country.'' Mr. Hall said he would continue to work for the PLP if Sen. Lister was chosen, but felt he should "earn his spurs,'' and "convince a number of people who have a strong sense of ideological principle that he wouldn't be more comfortable within the UBP.'' A party leader required "major skills of diplomacy, for which he is not particulary famous,'' he said.

Mr. Hall said some will assume his comments stem from criticism that Sen.

Lister made about Mr. Hall's canvassing efforts in the October election. Sen.

Lister, who was a PLP campaign co-chairman, accused Mr. Hall of "unforgivable'' carelessness in losing Hamilton West. While he remained bitter about the remark, "it's not really about that,'' Mr. Hall said.

However, the "political horsewhipping'' he received from Sen. Lister "is an example of what we don't want from a political party leader.'' As for talk of Mr. Hall as a future PLP leader, "I'm frankly not interested at this time -- period,'' Mr. Hall said.

SILENT -- Sen. Terry Lister is saying nothing.