An angel on one shoulder, the devil on the other, Wayne Furbert went through turmoil after being dumped as leader of the UBP.

But as the party braced itself for yet one more resignation speech, which could have been the death knell for fast fading election hopes, an unexpected thing happened. Peace broke out.

And despite losing the job he felt he was destined for after serving the party since he was a teen, Mr. Furbert said he is far from demoralised.

He told The Royal Gazette: “It was three tough months reading about yourself every day in the paper, one way or another, but I had to go through this.

“I am not sure too many other people could do it. At the end of the day I still came through it with my integrity in place and who I really am.

“Within myself I had to resolve — do I take the high way or the low way? There is a certain quote in the Bible that says ‘choose life or death’. I chose life — the life of the Bermudian public is more important than choosing death for myself.

“If I had gone off the rails as some people were expecting my political career and my principles that most people know me by would have been gone overnight.”

Some might have been sorely tempted to roundly condemn the people who had dropped him. And he admits it played on his mind.

“Tempted? God was I tempted! I was at my house tormented, deciding what I should do. It was like an angel sitting on one side and the devil on the other whispering into my ear. That’s how it was.”

And while the spirits on the shoulder were figurative there were real people calling him, urging him to wreak vengeance.

But he kept his eyes on the bigger picture. “My focus has always been on the people. I believe the United Bermuda Party is the best vehicle right now.

“If my feelings for the party had stopped there I could have been more damaging. But I had to look beyond and above for the people of Bermuda. So I said: ‘No, I can’t do it’.”

Recently former MP Erwin Adderley said he wasn’t supporting the UBP anymore after failing to be selected for a highly winnable seat. It’s a stance Mr. Furbert can’t relate to.

“I don’t want to talk about Erwin Adderley but that was strange. I do find a lot of people doing that. Then you lose respect — I mean who are you? What are you really made up of?”

And Mr. Furbert won’t spill the beans on the schism which led to his own demise other than to say: “There were times I didn’t get the support as I should have from my colleagues.

“That’s why I said in my speech ‘I will not treat them the way they treated me.’

“If had done that the press would be writing more stories than before. Me behaving the way I did and sticking to my principles was able to put a stop to a lot of things going on in the United Bermuda Party.”

“Any leader is only as good as the team performs and some of my colleagues were not performing as well as they should have.”

But these days he has bigger things to worry about.

“Bermuda is more important than any individual and that’s why at the end of the day I stuck in. I cannot afford to turn this country over to Dr. Ewart Brown for another five years. This election is not about UBP versus PLP. It is about Dr. Brown versus 60,000 people.

“This aura of king, emperor, that style doesn’t fit in with the way Bermudians think. Bermuda is too small to have a king.”

Asked how this Premier was different from any other Mr. Furbert said: “No other Premier had bodyguards. I don’t walk around with bodyguards, I haven’t done anyone wrong. I feel very comfortable with who I am when I walk around town.

“How did they get to this stage? People are more frustrated in Bermuda than ever before. People are starting to explode.”

Governments normally avoid controversy ahead of an election, said Mr. Furbert — but not this one.

“Dr. Brown is doing things now two or three months before an election. What will his real agenda be, given five years, if he’s not willing to listen to the people of Bermuda?

“This country does not belong to Dr. Ewart Brown. It belongs to the people. That’s where the fear arises when it comes to him — and whether the Cabinet really has control over the decisions or is it all one way in the Cabinet?”

He said that’s why the PLP branches were already biting back by backing candidates not in the Dr. Brown mould.

Asked what Dr. Brown had done wrong given he was a democratically elected politician who had been elected by his party, Mr. Furbert said: “The major concern for the people of Bermuda is whether they can really trust Dr. Brown to do what they want, not what he wants.”

With the PLP aiming to pick up 30 out of the 36 seats Mr. Furbert could appear vulnerable in Hamilton West which he took by 61 votes last time.

It’s unclear who Mr. Furbert will face with rumours that LaVerne Furbert — who is a cousin — has now withdrawn despite recently winning the backing of the local branch.

But whomever his opponent is, Mr. Furbert is confident of retaining the seat in a parish he has campaigned in ever since he was a boy. “The party could never give me a safe seat because I love the people of Hamilton Parish and working for them. I believe they will put me back in. I am confident. I have been canvassing a long time.”

Now 51, has no plans to retire — unless he is no longer of use to his constituents. “It’s like I always say. If I can help someone as I pass along my life will not have been in vain.”