Winning a seat at the December election was a bittersweet experience for new United Bermuda Party MP Darius Tucker.

Excited by the achievement he also accepts he might be in Opposition for a very long time unless the United Bermuda Party undertakes radical reform. And he revealed the party has set up a committee to see what needs to be done after it lost its third election on the trot and saw its share of the vote decline slightly.

He told The Royal Gazette: "There is a move afoot to start a steering committee that is going to look at these various things that have transpired in the UBP, to dispel whatever myths maybe there are and allow whatever truths that may need to emerge — to be told.

"As a new candidate I am prepared to sit with this committee which is going to be investigating the United Bermuda Party — how it can change, if it can change and how it can present itself in the future so it can be the Government of the day.

"You must give it a chance, especially being new to the game. The leader has made a commitment to have a look at these things, the viability, how we present ourselves so we can appeal. There are sufficient open minds sitting in that room that know there are things we have to do in order to win the country."

He said there were people who wanted the UBP to be strong in Opposition but who were not prepared to vote for it along racial lines.

"It is difficult. It is not an impossible task," he said. "It may not be coming in the next election, it may be the election after that. But it will require radical change, it will require a different mindset. Whether or not the people at the branch level, the workers of the party, who have worked in the background for years and years are prepared to accept it, is something different. But change will have to come without a doubt."

Allegations about racism within the party made by former members David Dunkley, Gywneth Rawlins and Jamahl Simmons needed to be investigated, said Mr. Tucker.

"Obviously, they would have to help with the investigation so we can get to the bottom of these types of situations.

"I am not going to say nothing has happened to them because I don't know. If it has happened then we need to find out."

He said racists needed to be outed rather than be allowed to continue behind the scenes.

He added: "I believe the Big Conversation needs to be held."

Mr. Tucker said the UBP needed to tackle the race debate itself to end the polarisation but it needed to be held in smaller groups rather than having a large group in a hall.

Some party insiders believe the project to change the UBP enough to get elected is an impossible task and Mr. Tucker appears lukewarm on the long-term viability of the party.

Some have been plotting about forming a breakaway party to take on the PLP.

Asked whether it wouldn't be easier to just disband the UBP, he said: "For me to say pack it in would be difficult because of the fact there are so many people before me who have put so much into the United Bermuda Party.

"I was elected as a United Bermuda Party candidate and until the UBP dissolves I will sit as a UBP candidate until there is a consensus by the party to disband or to go forward and possibly make that radical change that would be needed. It would have to be a radical change."

It needs candidates people could identify with, said Mr. Tucker who noted how Zane DeSilva was able to take a seat off UBP stalwart David Dodwell. And it will need a convincing leader.

It might also mean moving seats, said Mr. Tucker, who said he would be willing to fight in Warwick, where he grew up, if it meant there was a better chance of unseating a PLP MP and winning Government.

Warwick was where Mr. Tucker cut his political teeth.

Despite coming from a PLP family, with two uncles Walter and George Byron who ran for the party, Mr. Tucker joined the UBP when he was 18.

He worked in the Warwick East branch after being inspired by local MP John Irving Pearman who also came from a working class background but worked himself up to becoming general manager of HWP.

And Mr. Tucker was also turned off by racial antagonism prevalent in some PLP circles but instead enjoyed friendships with whites which remain 'til this day. If he ever does attempt a seat switch opponents will find themselves up against a formidable force.

Mr. Tucker is known for his winning ways on the doorstep — he was handpicked by previous Hamilton South MP Maxwell Burgess for his campaigning abilities and then re-took the seat, when Mr. Burgess retired, with an increased majority.

While elsewhere the election was extremely nasty, Mr. Tucker said he struck up a great rapport with PLP opponent Wayne Caines who many had tipped to win the seat. At one stage even Mr. Tucker was worried but canvassing returns calmed nerves.

But it was hard work: he canvassed every day except Sunday and on some nights only got as far as one house. "There are still people telling me today they don't know how I won that seat."

Local ties make a huge difference. Now 42, Mr. Tucker lived in the area from age 21, only moving out two years ago to nearby Bailey's Bay. "I have a very interesting constituency. I am sure I have a few millionaires in my constituency, I might even have a billionaire but they go all the way to someone who needs support from the country."

There are 25 votes in Tuckers Town but the seat also takes in the cramped neighbourhood of Devil's Hole. "When you go down in the Hole there are a lot of family ties — you really need to know what is going on parochially, having lived there for 19 years made a big difference."

But while Mr. Tucker, who is property maintenance manager for Wilkinson Estates, was sweeping to victory UBP colleagues across the Island were faring far worse.

He believes his party's immigration policy had cost the party dear as the PLP distorted the figures while 'Three Strikes and You are Out" also cost votes.

"Once they had plastered that 8,000 (alleged new citizens) that was it for a lot of swing votes," he said. "We had a dynamic enough team that had the ability to win but that was the turning point. All the rhetoric meant nothing except for those full page adverts. It made a big difference in a lot of swing seats."

Assessing where his party is now, he said: "The 40 thieves are finished, they no longer exist." And he said there were still those who believe the UBP could win an election.

"But there is a mindset of people who only know black. They only see black. They will never vote for a United Bermuda Party candidate."

He said young voters might go through several elections before even considering voting for the UBP and that people no longer feared a black Government could not run the country.

"It is going to be very difficult for a white party to become the Government. That is truth.

"It's not a white party but that is the perception and you are not going to get rid of that overnight. It is a hard thing," he said.

Only four of the party's 14 MPs are white yet even switching to an all black slate of 36 candidates would not help the UBP shed the white image, believes Mr. Tucker. Nor would it even be desirable.

"Remember we have white people in this country too.

"We need white representation in the House of Assembly, there are white people in this country, just like we need Portuguese representation and in another ten years we are going to need Filipino representation."