defiant C.V. (Jim) Woolridge last night told The Royal Gazette .

The rebel MP issued the warning shortly after the UBP passed a constitutional amendment which would discipline members who don't tow the party line.

Calling the vote a "foregone conclusion,'' and those on the party's central committee who pushed it "politically dead'' and "clueless,'' Mr. Woolridge vowed he and members of the UBP's rebel wing would not back away from their anti-McDonald's bill, which now sits before the House of Assembly.

Party members, in a special general meeting held at the UBP's Chancery Lane headquarters, last night voted in a series of amendments to the party's constitution, among them an amendment which would discipline or expel anyone guilty of undesirable conduct, who is no longer supportive of the aims of the party, or who votes against the Party Whip twice in one year.

The Premier Dr. David Saul last night told The Royal Gazette the meeting covered a whole series of votes, some which passed and some which did not: "We do this on a regular basis,'' he said.

And he denied the amendment on party discipline was targeted towards any group, specifically the so-called People's Five of Mr. Woolridge, Trevor Moniz, Ann Cartwright DeCouto, Dr. Clarence Terceira, and Dr. David Dyer.

The Conservative Party of Britain has a similar clause in its constitution he noted, adding that the vote would have no impact on Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto's Prohibited Restaurants Bill.

The vote, said Dr. Saul, passed with a massive majority of 78-or-80 for, to six opposed.

In earlier comments to The Royal Gazette however the Premier admitted the changes in the rules had been prompted by the people's five's defiance of the Party Whip: "People were asking, `What do you do in events like this?' and the (party's) constitution was silent,'' he said in a late October interview.

But the heavy hand of discipline, argued Mr. Woolridge, runs contrary to the heritage of the UBP and will eventually lead to its demise.

"This party was built on freedom and diversity and ever since John Swan came along 18 months ago with his childish notions of Independence and then McDonald's, it's gone steadily downhill. "My good friend the late Dr. John Stubbs used to say, `if you're digging a hole and you get in over your head, stop.' Well, I tell them to stop. The political time of reckoning is at hand and an election is getting closer,'' he said..

"You don't see people lining up to join the UBP, and that's because they're busy silencing and expelling people who stand up for their principles and convictions.'' Dr. David Dyer last night told The Royal Gazette he attended the party meeting and agreed it was a "foregone conclusion''.

"It's a retrogressive step; the party already had a vehicle and a facility to discipline members who had gone against the Whip,'' he said. "There's no question it's directed against the People's Five.'' C. V. Woolridge