David Burt has rebutted allegations that the Progressive Labour Party’s leadership had done anything untoward in setting new rules for admission of members and the selection of delegates to the party’s annual conference.

Mr Burt, the leader of the PLP, spoke to The Royal Gazette hours after a trial date was set to hear claims by leadership contender Curtis Dickinson that the rule changes breached the party’s constitution.

Mr Dickinson, a former finance minister, is running against Jason Hayward, the economy and labour minister, to succeed Mr Burt, who steps down after nine years in office at the end of October.

But the leadership campaign was thrown into turmoil last month after the party’s central committee passed rules saying new members could not be automatically enrolled if they campaigned against the PLP in either of the past two general elections and that people could serve as delegates to the PLP annual conference only if they had been members for 12 months.

The moves led to Mr Dickinson securing an interim injunction against the changes last week and the two sides were in court yesterday when Puisne Judge Shade Subair Williams noted “widespread public interest” in the contest and set a trial date of October 1 and 2.

Last night, Mr Burt revealed that plans to hold a special delegates conference on Monday to confirm the central committee’s ability to make changes to party rules were now in jeopardy.

That meeting would not have considered the membership and delegate changes agreed on August 24, because they were subject to the legal action.

He said the party had given an undertaking it would not bring forward constitutional amendments at the delegates meeting, after Mr Dickinson’s lawyers had warned they would bring contempt proceedings against party officials if they did so.

He said Dawn Simmons, the party chairwoman, and Patricia Basden, the secretary-general, were being threatened with prison for contempt of court and he would not allow that to happen.

Mr Burt gave a defiant defence of the central committee’s actions, maintaining that it had frequently made changes to the party’s rules in the past when the party’s conferences were not sitting and insisted the changes agreed on August 24 were justified and reasonable.

“What was happening was that the branches were getting membership lists of people who were on the One Bermuda Alliance executive, of people who ran against the PLP, and there was one branch chair who called me and said someone appeared on his membership list who always runs the polls for the One Bermuda Alliance in that constituency, in every election,” he said.

“Our party states that if you join the party, you have to support the aims and objectives of the party and support all the decisions of the central committee and the delegates conference.

‘“And I think it's reasonable to assume that someone who has run polls for the One Bermuda Alliance for three consecutive elections may not actually be supportive of the Progressive Labour Party.”

Mr Burt added that no one would be barred from joining, unless evidence was gathered and a specific objection was made and adjudicated on.

He said he did not believe there were more than ten people who might have been affected and, in fact, only one objection had been received between August 24, when the changes were agreed, and last week when the injunction was granted.

He added: “So there is an entire lawsuit over one person, and that particular objection was someone who ran against the PLP in the last election.”

Mr Burt also defended the rule that was made from the floor and passed at the central committee meeting that said people had to have been party members for a year before being eligible to be delegates.

Mr Burt said the rule had been misinterpreted to mean people were being prevented from voting in the leadership election, which he said was not true.

“We are just saying in order to become a delegate or to be elected a delegate, you must have served for 12 months,” he said, adding that it was important for members to have some familiarity with how the party works before being elected to its highest body.

Mr Burt said the special delegates conference scheduled for Monday was called to confirm the ability of the central committee to make rule changes when the conference was not sitting in order to prevent similar legal actions in the future.

He said that meeting may not now go ahead following the undertaking given to the court and the other side. He said the undertaking was only agreed to because he could not stand by and see Ms Simmons and other officials risk jail or fines for contempt of court.

But he insisted the central committee was within its rights to make rules and the special delegates conference was called to enumerate that right.

He also pushed back at claims that the delegates would be hand-picked, saying they were the delegates elected for last year’s conference who were still serving their year’s term.

But the agreement not to proceed with the central committee’s resolution from Tuesday meant ‘’the party is literally stuck in limbo until the case is heard’’.

‘’This is unfortunate, but we are not conceding anything,” he said. “We just want to stop spending the party’s time and money fighting one application after another. Every single thing the party does, there's another lawsuit that's being filed, and it's unfortunate.

‘’The court hasn’t heard the actual dispute because we’ve never been able to put forward our side or our evidence. It was an ex parte hearing, and then a notice for mention, and we consented to the order because we want to get to the case as quickly as possible so that the party can move forward with its annual conference.”

Asked if Monday’s special delegates meeting was cancelled, he said: “I can't give you a definitive answer on that right now. The party hasn't met to discuss those things, so I can't give you the definitive answer.”

He also denied that Mr Dickinson had been refused entry to last week’s central committee meeting. He said the meeting was closed to non-committee members while Mr Dickinson’s lawsuit was being discussed.

But he said he then called Mr Dickinson to join the meeting, saying it was only fair since Mr Hayward, who was a committee member, was present. But Mr Dickinson had left the PLP’s Alaska Hall headquarters by then.

Mr Dickinson’s lawyer, Delroy Duncan KC, obtained the interim injunction to stop the August 24 changes going into effect last Friday in the Supreme Court.

The injunction was filed against Ms Simmons and Ms Basden, who are being represented by Mark Pettingill, a former One Bermuda Alliance MP and attorney-general.

Mr Dickinson was named as plaintiff with Shea-tai Maurice Smith, Sheila Mareen Brown, Winifred Rose Stevens and Jay-Lee Maurice Smith.

During the hearing yesterday, which lasted several minutes, Mr Duncan said the case “is about the constitutional interpretation” of the PLP charter.

Neither Mr Hayward nor Mr Dickinson were in court, but Ms Simmons attended with Zane DeSilva, the Deputy Premier, and PLP senators Lauren Hayward Bell and Lindsay Simmons attended.

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