Education Minister Randy Horton probably has some idea of what former United Bermuda Party MP Jamahl Simmons felt like when he was rejected by his branch committee — but Mr. Horton is unlikely to accuse his branch of racism.

Both Mr. Simmons and Mr. Horton appeared to have fallen foul of their committee members because they failed to pay sufficient attention to constituency matters.

To some extent, Mr. Horton, in common with many other Cabinet Ministers past and present, can claim that pressing national matters — and Mr. Horton has had his hands full with the CedarBridge mould crisis and the dismal state of local education — have diverted them.

Most branches seem to understand this, so it may be that Mr. Horton has been more neglectful than most.

On the other hand, there has been a good deal of inferences that Mr. Horton’s resounding rejection has more to do with what is in effect a continuing fight for the soul of the Progressive Labour Party that has been going on since at least the 2003 election between what can loosely be termed the Brown camp and the “old guard” of former Premiers Dame Jennifer Smith and Alex Scott.

In that sense, the rejection of Mr. Horton is a tacit rejection of Dr. Brown as well, since Mr. Horton is one of Dr. Brown’s most loyal supporters.

Dr. Brown has rightly made great weight of the number of people who have come forward to run for the PLP in the upcoming election, and he has also moved quickly to put “his people” in key posts, both within the Cabinet Office, the Senate and in the party organisation.

But there must be a sense among those who kept the PLP light burning through some dark days that many of these people are Johnny come latelys and that their hard work and effort over years, if not decades, is being ignored.

In Mr. Horton’s case, Dr. Brown and the central committee have a genuine dilemma. While Mr. Horton’s seat is reasonably safe, all candidates depend on their constituency workers to canvass, get out the vote and work the electoral machinery. To impose Mr. Horton on a recalcitrant branch is risky.

What is also clear is that most PLP members will be reluctant to rock the boat with an election looming. In that sense, they show a good deal more sense than the United Bermuda Party has in recent months.

But it would be reasonable to assume that after an Election, win or lose, the knives will be back out within the PLP.

Dr. Brown has tried to spin this debate as an effort to wrest control of candidate selection away from “cliques” in the branches and, presumably, on the PLP’s central committee. In part this is being done through heavier constituency polling than has occurred in the past. But someone will still have to make a decision in the end, and this will ultimately fall to the party’s leadership. So, in that sense, “bottom up consultation” will not be the deciding factor.

The problem is that Dr. Brown has always made it clear that he is a leader and he does not spend a great deal of time building consensus once he has made his mind up. While that may achieve results in the short term, in the long term it is likely to build up resentment.

And Dr. Brown needs to guard against that.