Premier Ewart Brown is prepared to relinquish his role as Tourism Minister once the first tangible signs of a new hotel being built in Bermuda are visible.

Should that happen within the next year it will be the first stage in his handing over of political responsibilities to others as he heads towards his departure as leader of the country in October 2010.

In an interview with The Royal Gazette earlier this month conducted after four Guantánamo detainees arrived in Bermuda, but before the rejection of the Premier's controversial gaming bill legislation he said he remains steadfast in his aim to complete his one-term in office and then exit.

"I believe that I will be able to satisfy my promise to the party that I will complete my term to October 2010. That is when my four-year term ends and I will exit," he said.

Calls for him to relinquish his Tourism and Transport Ministries to concentrate on being Premier have been made over the years. He says he will drop Tourism once he sees construction of a new hotel begin in Bermuda.

The two front-running projects are the proposed St. Regis in Hamilton and the Park Hyatt at the former Club Med site in St. George's, of which he is "cautiously optimistic."

He said: "I said it from the beginning. When I see the first hotel coming up out of the ground is enough for me. I consider myself an overworked individual. It is an extremely demanding schedule. I will find a Tourism and Transport Minister, or at least a Tourism Minister, as soon as I can."

Whether his parliamentary and Progressive Labour Party colleagues will allow him to see out the next 15 months and achieve those objectives is another matter.

In the past six weeks he has had to see off two highly public challenges to his continuing leadership as the ranks of discontent have swollen.

His leadership style and the way it is tied to the decisions to bring four former Guantánamo Bay detainees to Bermuda under a cloak of secrecy, and his attempt to push through a controversial gaming bill in Parliament without alerting opponents, have brought difficulties.

His first hurdle came in mid-June as a firestorm of protest erupted after he agreed to allow four Uighurs to settle in Bermuda after being released from Guantánamo Bay without pre-consulting the UK, the Governor Sir Richard Gozney or his own Cabinet.

That sparked three mass protests outside Parliament and a no-confidence vote, put forward by the UBP, in the House of Assembly.

Dr. Brown survived by a hefty majority, but Dale Butler resigned as Culture Minister.

Internationally, the dust has yet to settle on the repercussions of Bermuda accepting the four former Guantánamo detainees in June (see separate story).

Then on Friday, July 10, he put before MPs a bill to allow casinos to open on cruise ships while docked in Bermuda, having previously instructed his chief whip to inform MPs and the media that the legislation was being held until the autumn.

But the attempt to catch his opponents off guard backfired the bill was defeated and four of his own MPs, including Ministers Elvin James and Terry Lister, called for him to resign because of his actions.

Within days Mr. James and Mr. Lister were out of the Cabinet, while the Premier faced a PLP central committee meeting that placed his leadership under the spotlight.

He emerged after a four-hour meeting with no challenge, but vowing to adjust the way he operates.

At the time, he said there would be less Ewart Brown legislation and more PLP legislation and that he would reach out to the PLP backbenchers.

In a press conference the morning after the meeting, he said: "If I find a particular individual requires a customised approach I will try to use it," adding that: "Almost every day I do something that I regret, but I don't allow it to stop this forward motion."

In this interview, conducted the day before the gaming bill controversy, Dr. Brown defended his leadership style and agreed it was 'Americanised' as he had previously lived for more than 30 years in the US.

What about autocratic? He replied: "In some instances I can see where some people will say that I'm autocratic if it means making a decision sometimes quickly and expecting it to be carried out.

"But I think autocratic is a little strong, but it depends on where you are looking from."

Would he change his leadership style? "No. I'm closer to the exit than I am to the entrance. I adjust my leadership style almost daily. It is not the raw me that you see.

"You see an adjusted version of me all the time. This job demands an almost 'switch on and switch off' type of conduct.

"Wouldn't it be boring if you only had one or two leadership styles? I don't get up in the morning with the intention of harming a soul.

"I get up to go to work and to make life in Bermuda better and, after I'm gone, Bermudians will look around and they'll see things that will be evidence of my work, and I would rather be judged, quite honestly, by my work than anything else. Style floats off the edge of the Earth, but FutureCare will be here."

Following the Uighurs' arrival, and facing the first of the mass protests against his leadership on June 16, he had his wife Wanda by his side.

Asked why, he said: "We are a team. My wife is not separated from my political dealings. She is an astute political analyst and she is first and foremost my wife.

"And I said to her 'Are you sure you want to go out into this?' and she said 'Of course.' So I am glad I have a wife who doesn't limit her public presence to cocktail parties.

"People were shouting and screaming and not letting me talk. I tried to speak and they shouted over me.

"Many people have forgotten about that, they saw it as a very dignified gathering. From our perspective it wasn't like that."

He faced a rough ride in Parliament when the Opposition UBP brought a motion of no confidence in his Government.

The motion was defeated 22 votes to 11, but not before a 14-hour debate in which many on his own side voiced criticism of his leadership.

Dr. Brown said: "The motion of no confidence came from the Opposition. By definition, in order for that to be successful they would need the help of some of our members they did not get it.

"I think what they were counting on was that they capitalise on some of the dissension that exists in our party. Now, our party has a long history of being able to survive post dissension.

"In other areas back in the 80s, dissension in the PLP was settled by expulsions. We are not doing that, so I see that as growth, that we are able to tolerate public and private statements opposed to my leadership, let it run its natural course, and remain intact as a party. That is the test of an organisation."

After the debate Culture Minister Dale Butler resigned from Cabinet, stating he felt the leader's words were not unifying. Dr. Brown said his speech reflected the events of the moment and, in his opinion, required some "fighting talk".

He said: "I like Dale personally and I have tremendous respect for his work ethic. We may have our disagreements.

"He has often mentioned his concern about my ability or inability to unite Bermudians. I think we both have the same goal.

"I don't want to characterise how he thinks, but there are some people in Bermuda who think that if you just mix people together and put a nice label on it then everything is fine. I don't belong to that group.

"I was taught by my surgery professors that you should never sew up over an infection, and I see Bermuda as an infected society and if you sew over it you are guaranteeing an abscess formation.

"I believe that my role, one of my purposes for being in this position is to open up the wound and allow it to drain. That is why that demonstration the other day was interpreted by me as a positive development.

"As tough as it was for me and my wife to go there and go through it, that is the road less travelled, that is how you have to do it in my opinion.

"You don't get there by having lofty statements and inviting 50 black people and 50 white people to a party and saying 'Oh look at integrated Bermuda.' I'm not doing that."

And to those who see a deepening racial polarisation in Bermuda, he said: "I think more people have come out of the closet. I don't think that people are polarised any more (than they used to be).

"Bermuda has been, and is, a polarised society. I was born into it and I did not create it. Bermuda has been polarised for a long time.

"There are issues now that are forcing this polarisation to come from underneath and coming out into the open.

"That may seem very uncomfortable right now, but history will record it as a milestone. I see this as leading to something positive for Bermuda, although some people read the discomfort and say 'Oh, Bermuda is going to hell in a handbasket.'

"I think Bermuda is finally confronting its demons, which the psychiatrists say is a positive experience."

Regarding an e-mail exchange between MP Walter Roban (now Minister) and resident Claire Smith, in which Mr. Roban said he did not 'correspond with racists and bigots,' the Premier said he would have taken issue if Mr. Roban had resorted to name-calling, pointing out that the MP had not called anyone a racist or bigot.

He said: "Roban was not a Minister at the time, so it does not quite fall into ministerial code of conduct. But let's say that had he done it as a Minister. I would have had a few words of advice."

Looking ahead, Dr. Brown remains focused on fulfilling his full one-term as Premier and then exiting. Of his post-Premiership plans, he said: "Golf, and to spend some fun time with my wife and my grandchildren."

Once this interview had been reviewed, subsequent follow-up questions to the topics were raised.

The Premier declined to answer those questions, but indicated he may do so at a later date.