School principal, author, historian, fishcake king, outspoken backbencher and the Progressive Labour Party politician who's more popular outside the party than in it — life's never been boring for Dale Butler.

The youngest ever principal at St. George's Secondary School at 28, he was elected to Parliament in Warwick when the PLP first became Government in 1998.

He quickly became recognised as a clear and direct backbench speaker, even if it sometimes meant refusing to toe the party line.

But in 2001 he caused a storm of controversy when, speaking in a Parliament debate on long-term residents, he described European women as "plain" when they arrived in Bermuda and accused them of failing to bathe or use deodorant as often as locals.

After a year on the Island, he claimed, they were transformed and wore bright colours and make-up. Mr. Butler apologised unequivocally after he suffered a barrage of criticism.

Mr. Butler spent the rest of his first term as a backbencher despite many people believing his talents merited a place in Cabinet.

He retained his seat at the 2003 General Election and immediately became one of 11 rebels, led by Ewart Brown, who helped dethrone then-Premier Dame Jennifer Smith.

New Premier Alex Scott, who got the job Dr. Brown was hoping for, then made Mr. Butler the only rebel promoted to Cabinet, making him Minister of Community Affairs and Sports.

He held that position for four years before Mr. Scott's replacement Dr. Brown appointed him the first Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation.

By now one of the more senior members of Cabinet — albeit never in the Education Ministry many believed could have been his best fit — Mr. Butler hit the headlines when he lambasted Dr. Brown in the wake of the Uighurs affair last summer.

"As a Minister I am very disappointed I was not consulted," he said of Dr. Brown's move to bring four former Guantánamo Bay prisoners to Bermuda.

"I was absolutely stunned — I think we all were — when we were not informed. The Premier should apologise to the House, his Cabinet, and the people of Bermuda."

That apology came later that night, but only in the middle of an angry speech in which Dr. Brown blasted all his critics.

At the end of a marathon House of Assembly debate as the United Bermuda Party pushed unsuccessfully for a motion of no confidence in the Premier, Mr. Butler resigned.

"I appreciate the Premier's apology at the end but it was not a unifying speech. I have nothing further to say. The Government will go on," he explained minutes after quitting.

The Premier didn't have a bad word to say publicly about Mr. Butler; meanwhile the now-backbencher's popularity went through the roof.

A poll last October showed he had a favourability of 74 percent — marginally higher than the perennially well-liked Finance Minister Paula Cox and massively better than all other ten MPs included in the survey.

But this January, as he revealed his intention to run for Premier, Mr. Butler acknowledged much of that support comes from outside his own party.

Claiming PLP delegates could well turn him down because of his liberal views, he said: "On the one hand, where I have a lot of support, very often that support is non-party people."

Ideas he said could go down like a lead balloon among hard-core PLP supporters included working more closely with Governor Sir Richard Gozney, reconsidering the advertising ban with The Royal Gazette and inviting experienced United Bermuda Party MPs onto his Cabinet.

Since then, Ms Cox and backbencher Terry Lister have both launched their own campaigns, with Ms Cox capturing a huge amount of support from senior party members and Mr. Lister delivering a weekly series of town hall meetings.

Mr. Butler says he'll be saving most of his campaigning for the delegates he needs to win round at October's annual PLP conference.