About half of the United Bermuda Party’s MPs have now come to the conclusion that Wayne Furbert is not the person to lead them into a General Election, which is now certain to come sooner rather than later.

Unless Mr. Furbert can make a convincing case as to why he should stay, that makes his position virtually untenable. Mr. Furbert seemed like a good choice for leader a little more than year ago when Alex Scott was still Premier, but he has been unable to match up to Premier Ewart Brown.

That, more than his failure to solve the problems between Jamahl Simmons and his Pembroke West branch and the subsequent departure of party chairwoman Gwyneth Rawlins, is at the heart of Mr. Furbert’s problems. Mr. Furbert’s strengths — his sincerity and principles — initially seemed to outweigh his weaknesses, especially compared to Mr. Scott, but he has not been able to adapt to the different style of Dr. Brown.

Mr. Furbert’s strategy when he came into office was to make the UBP less adversarial, a similar approach to that taken by David Cameron of the British Conservative Party.

That may well have been the right approach with Mr. Scott, but has come to be seen as weak against the more assertive and energetic style of Dr. Brown.

And so the UBP have reached the point where they are casting around for a new leader who can restore the party’s confidence.

So far, the front runner seems to be Michael Dunkley, who has consistently shown that he is not afraid to take anyone on, not least Dr. Brown. But the party would do well to stage a genuine leadership contest, and to consider all the likely candidates. Regardless of whether an election is likely or not, the UBP needs to select a leader for the long term, and not make a panic decision.

Mr. Furbert himself should be considered, because he is a good politician who has built a strong position in Hamilton West. Mr. Dunkley has shown he can win in marginal constituencies and seems to have broad cross appeal.

Patricia Gordon Pamplin could also be in the running. She has does reasonably well as Shadow Finance Minister and again has shown she can stand her ground in the House of Assembly. But whether she has the charisma necessary to take on Dr. Brown is an open question.

John Barritt remains one of the strongest potential leaders within the UBP. He has clear and consistent positions on issues, broad cross appeal and is a good speaker. The question is whether he has the stomach for the fight. Maxwell Burgess may well have done himself in having effectively walked away from the party over the Jamahl Simmons situation, but any new leader needs to bring Mr. Burgess back into the fold.

Similarly, it is unlikely that Dr. Grant Gibbons will return as leader, but whoever does take charge needs to restore him to a portfolio. Outside of the MPs, Sen. Bob Richards would appear to be the only potential candidate, but his failure to win a seat in past elections will count against him.

What the UBP needs is a leader with sufficient intellect to take on the PLP and Dr. Brown, to attract strong candidates to its ranks and to elucidate a philosophy and policies that have broad appeal to the Bermudian voter. Bermuda needs two strong political parties, regardless of which is in power, and that requires good and sustained leadership.

The UBP needs to think carefully about who should lead it and, potentially, Bermuda.