Bermuda's Cabinet should have done more to stop Premier Ewart Brown getting out of control, according to Progressive Labour Party stalwart Eva Hodgson.

The race activist says Ministers should have stepped up and prevented Dr. Brown from repeatedly disrespecting the black community throughout his leadership.

Dr. Hodgson believes that by sticking together — instead of leaving Cabinet one by one — Ministers could have either influenced the Premier into operating with respect, or forced him to quit.

She told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "An uncontrollable Ewart is a problem for everyone, but the real tragedy with Ewart is he is the best leader we have had, the most constructive person, has the most creative ideas.

"But his lack of respect for the people he's serving and the Cabinet's lack of responsibility towards their constituents and their inability or failure to influence Ewart has been our tragedy.

"We must take collective responsibility."

The Premier angered the House of Assembly last Friday by trying to push through his controversial cruise ship gaming bill behind the backs of his backbench critics.

Three weeks earlier he came under fire from a string of his own MPs for breaking the Constitution and bringing four Guantánamo Bay detainees to the Island without mentioning it to anyone other than Immigration Minister David Burch.

But on other occasions when Dr. Brown has not followed the correct process he has escaped public criticism from Cabinet.

One example Dr. Hodgson provided was from last summer, when the Premier broke a contractual agreement with Bermuda Public Services' Union by firing long-serving Bermudians in the North American Tourism Office without first holding consultation to see if the move could be avoided.

Dr. Hodgson said: "Although he's done a great deal of good his fundamental problem is he doesn't respect the voting black community.

Referring to the Guantánamo Bay affair, she said: "He said he couldn't trust his Cabinet. He did it secretly. If he had a lot of respect for his Cabinet he would have thought he could have consulted."

And on the cruise ship controversy, she added: "He could have told them the bill's coming up.

"But it's also their lack of respect for him. The Cabinet has great responsibility too. They have accused the Premier of being too Americanised. He had nine people who were totally Bermudian and they did nothing about trying to collectively check Dr. Brown's impulses. Randy Horton and Wayne Perinchief didn't say anything until they were affected personally.

"Even in the case of Dale Butler, with whom I have worked closely and for whom I have a great deal of respect, I have told him he should have worked within Cabinet rather than resigning. It's only through collective action that they can either influence Dr. Brown or remove him if that's the objective.

"Ultimately, we need to realise that none of these problems are going to be solved until we begin to talk to each other and try to find some common consensus."

Dr. Hodgson said Dr. Brown should be given credit for putting race on the agenda.

"He's made white people begin to pay attention to black people," she said.

"We have to address the divide in the black and white communities. Before that, black people have to address the divide in the black community which is related to them not having self-worth. Every black person has been infected with it at one level or another."

Terry Lister was sacked as Minister on Sunday, with Elvin James also leaving Cabinet, after both called for Dr. Brown to resign on Friday night.

"It reflects a problem which the black community has to deal with in dealing with education: their inability to relate to each other," said Dr. Hodgson.

"Even in the matter of firing these two. For these two to call for his resignation on the floor of the House rather than in the party's conference.

"If they could not get rid of Ewart in the Cabinet or through the Central Committee it was going to be futile to try to get rid of him on the floor of the House."

Yesterday, former Tourism Minister Renee Webb criticised the PLP for constant use of the race card and urged white people to stand up for themselves.

Dr. Hodgson responded: "Black people have not been prepared to address in today's world either our history of African origin or the fact that because we have a history of a divided community we must therefore have far more motivation and respect to achieve success in personal terms and collective terms.

"When young people are told they can't talk about the past and racism, they go out into a world which shocks them when they see how divided it is.

"Black people must be willing to address our problems in the context of our own experience, which has left us with black males and people like Renee Webb, with the philosophy that anything white people say deserves more respect than anything black people say."

Dr. Hodgson said Ms Webb had played the race card herself in the past, calling for portraits of old white leaders to be removed from the House of Assembly.

She continued: "We must begin to understand and merge the different cultures. Everybody who attacks Premier Brown is unfair in one sense: Renee tells white people to speak out. I have been doing race for 50-odd years. White people ignored me completely until Premier Brown came along. Since he came along, they are listening."