Premier Alex Scott has been called upon to show leadership in the face of Cabinet Ministers publicly making statements at odds with one another.

Referring in particular to Works and Engineering and Housing Minister David Burch's pronouncements on immigration issues and the selection of the new commanding officer of the Bermuda Regiment, which were followed by a difference of view expressed by Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton, Senator Kim Swan questioned Government's grasp of "collective responsibility" and the Cabinet speaking with one voice.

The United Bermuda Party senator said the concept of collective Cabinet responsibility was enshrined in the Bermuda Constitution but appeared to be unobserved by the PLP Government.

Speaking in Senate on Wednesday, Sen. Swan described what he saw as the "seven sinister sanctions in seven long years" of the present Government.

"We have seen two weeks in a row a Minister (Sen. Burch) publicly corrected by one of his colleagues who sits in another place and I have to ask, when is a Minister not a Minister?" he asked.

"Is a Minister under this PLP Government not required to act in the spirit of collective responsibility?

"When you have Ministers at odds with each other, a Minister gives a speech at a public event and qualifies the remarks as speaking on his own accord, that certainly can't be right.

"We have seen this two weeks in a row. The first time was with remarks in reference to immigration and that Minister (Mr. Horton) had to come out and make a public statement to correct or be at variance with his colleague."

Sen. Swan said Sen. Burch's remarks last week about the selection of the new commanding officer of the Bermuda Regiment was also corrected by Minister Horton.

"The real problem I have is where is the leadership? Where is the Premier of the day?

"If we believe in the Constitution as we have it someone has to hold one of those Ministers responsible, one or both of those Ministers is speaking on behalf of the Cabinet ? so will the real person please stand up. The real person is the man ? and the man is the Premier. He needs to bring some closure and some clarity to this situation."

Sen. Swan said it was not the first time that two Government Ministers had been publicly at odds with one another, recalling the Berkeley project when it was argued that the contracts were made on merit by one Minister and that they had been awarded on an empowerment scheme by another.

He went on: "We had Cabinet Ministers of this Government make derogatory remarks about the United States and about the President of the US ? as many as three Ministers, but no response from the Premier."

And Sen. Swan said Cabinet Minister for Drugs Control Wayne Perinchief had called for his own colleagues and members of Parliament to be drug tested but that had not been followed up by the Government.

He concluded: "The seventh sinister sanction is the reign of terror on the people of Bermuda ? it's appalling for those Bermudians out there who have been trod on. The constitution spells out the responsibility of Cabinet and its collective responsibility and we have seen errors made and I call on the Premier himself to stand up.

"I have seen members of the former UBP Government sacked from Cabinet for passing a note across the Senate table. I have seen members of the UBP Government fired from Cabinet for making remarks that the Premier of the day did not think were in keeping with his leadership.

"But in these seven years of this PLP Government we have certainly not seen the leadership necessary to run this country and show our partners that we are more than a Banana Republic."