While Government MPs could be forgiven for rubbing their hands in glee as the UBP implodes, they were not going to be caught looking complacent.

Asked if the election was almost in the bag Government MP Ashfield DeVent would only say: "People still have to get out and vote but they have put themselves in a very, very weak position.

"It is interesting to watch them self-destruct. It will take some extreme leadership to bring them back together."

He said he was looking forward to other black candidates spilling the beans and the allegations of racism within the UBP were unsurprising.

Most blacks had joined that party for what they could get out of it personally, said Mr. DeVent.

"Now they are no longer in power and in a position to say who gets what, where, when and how it no longer suits them — so it's bye-bye UBP.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some of them joined the PLP. We should always be aware of opportunists."

He said the UBP would no longer exist as we know it and could become a rump all-white faction. Already lagging in the polls before the schism even some UBP insiders are now viewing the next election as a walk-over for the Government but optimism dies hard among the party stalwarts.

In a November 2006 poll nearly 40 per cent said they wanted the Government to secure a third term while 25 per cent of those polled said they would have voted UBP.

The Research Innovations Poll put black support for the party at just eight percent but UBP Leader Wayne Furbert stuck to his upbeat line.

"We are not moved by that at all.

"I expected an early election and now I expect and even earlier election."

But he admitted the resignations had been a blow.

"It has made it tougher. Can we climb the hill? Yes."