Rebel backbencher Randy Horton last night spoke of his shock at Premier Ewart Brown's attempt to sneak the cruise ship gaming bill in behind his back.

Mr. Horton and the rest of the Premier's critics were kept in the dark as Dr. Brown only informed his supporters he was going to try to push the controversial bill through the House of Assembly yesterday morning.

It meant the former Education Minister arrived on the Island at 11.30 a.m. to find the bill had already been beaten by 18 votes to 11.

Mr. Horton had been planning to vote against it, but had not expected any vote until November at the earliest.

"I arrived in Bermuda and texted to find out what was going on in the House. I was shocked that I found out the bill had gone before the group," Mr. Horton told The Royal Gazette.

"I definitely did not know it was going to be on. It was not supposed to be on.

"If I'd known it was going ahead, I would have made a point of being there. I would have voted the way most people voted."

Former Premier Alex Scott, a long-time opponent of gambling and vocal critic of Dr. Brown's leadership style, said due to recent ill health he sometimes hasn't turned up at the House first thing in the morning.

"I'm just glad that I was here in time to participate," Mr. Scott told this newspaper.

"A few months ago, I had surgery so I had been coming to the House a little late.

"But based on my experience I thought today I should be here a little earlier — just in case."

Mr. Scott joined Ms Foggo, Ashfield DeVent, Dennis Lister, Patrice Minors, Wayne Perinchief and Dame Jennifer Smith in voting against the bill.

Explaining his reasoning, Mr. Scott told this newspaper: "I felt that the House had been given official assurance that this matter would be carried over.

"By official assurance I mean to my knowledge the Opposition had been told that the matter wasn't going to go forward. They had been told by our Whip. Our members were of the understanding that this matter wasn't going to go forward.

"So the House was caught totally, totally unaware of the initiative that the Premier took. I don't take it lightly that we refer to each other as Honourable men and women.

"If the machinery of the House had led everyone to believe officially that the matter wasn't going forward then, until we were officially notified otherwise, I felt there was serious unreadiness in the House on this matter.

"I stop short of saying the House had been misled, but I will say that the House was subject to an apparent legislative manoeuvre.

"I want to keep the legislative process alive and well in this place, and so I voted that the matter not come out of committee.

"I don't know the reason for other members. They probably each have their respective reasons for their decisions."

Mr. DeVent said he voted against it because the Premier had abused the process — on a day when Dr. Brown introduced a motion calling for young people to behave with respect.

"We thought it wasn't going to happen. The process was abused," Mr. DeVent told The Royal Gazette.

"I'm sick and tired of people breaking the process. Politicians. On a day when we are holding a debate about gang problems, and we are saying young people should not be breaking rules, this has happened. Rules are not to be broken."

Mr. Lister said: "I have always been against that bill. If you see my track record, I have always been against it."

Opposition Leader Kim Swan issued a statement attacking the Premier's dishonesty and manipulative behaviour.

"We believe the Premier suffered a serious political blow this morning, when seven members of the Progressive Labour Party joined with 11 Opposition United Bermuda Party members in voting down the Prohibitive Gaming Act, introduced to allow gaming on cruise ships while in port," said Mr. Swan.

"We believe the Premier gambled that the defeat of the Opposition's recent motion of no confidence had stiffened support for his leadership within his own party.

"He gambled that by misleading the Opposition into believing the matter would not be brought up this morning, he might take the House sufficiently by surprise to sneak his bill through.

"It was a dishonest thing to do, and it backfired on him.

"I would like to pay tribute to those members of the Progressive Labour Party who paid heed to their consciences this morning, and voted against the bill.

"I would invite the PLP to reflect on this: There is a common thread running through many of the controversial actions of the Premier in recent months, a thread that has touched off a lot of anger, both against him and against your party.

"Dr Brown is a man who believes it is perfectly all right to manipulate people into doing what he wants them to do and, if manipulation isn't enough, to trick them into doing what he wants them to do.

"We don't believe that is honest and acceptable behaviour. We don't believe it is behaviour that any of us ought to tolerate in a man who is supposed to be leading the country."

UBP MP John Barritt, a former Government Whip, told this newspaper: "The UBP was told it wasn't going ahead.

"The Premier, though his Whip, having told us it was not going to be taken up, then announced it was.

"There are some things that ought to be beyond partisan politics; some ought to be ruled by common courtesy. Notice is one of those things.

"You don't just pass a bill by stealth. But he struck a blow at the heart of what's required for this House to function properly by producing it without notice.

"I'm glad it backfired. Clearly he was thinking he might be able to slip it by everybody.

"That's wrong. Parliament should not operate by ambush.

"In effect, what he did was mislead us. You can't lead this way. It wasn't just us he didn't tell, it was his own people. Both sides of the House were abused today."