“Who the cap fits, let them wear it”— Bob Marley

I am fully aware that the question posed in the title of this commentary is provocative. I also want all to know that the question raised is hyperbole. However, after the recent vote for the Progressive Labour Party leadership at the Annual General Conference 2022, I find it to be an appropriate analogy. To be abundantly clear, in this analogy, I am not saying that David Burt is the Devil — but that he would be the Devil's minion and henchman.

Bermuda, how else would you describe a man whom his own party members have described as a liar, master deceiver, manipulator, trickster, backstabber, divider and forked-tongued speaker?

The country has witnessed these attributes in practice over the past five years. Thankfully, we can be consoled as a people that it was not a national election vote but a vote by the inner circle of the PLP.

When we view it from this lens, the vote to keep Mr Burt as the leader should come as no surprise, although 90 per cent of us had hoped for a different outcome. The inner-circle mandate of the “New PLP” was bound to pay off. Mr Burt has honed his manipulation to a science, as the vote shows.

The challenger, Curtis Dickinson, had to take to social media to get his message to delegates. He stated how the process had been manipulated to stop him from speaking to the delegates at the conference. Mr Burt was allowed to give his speech, though, under the pretext of an address on the state of the party. Even more curious is that Mr Dickinson’s speech on social media has been taken down — and we are all wondering why?

A close inspection of the majority of Mr Burt’s inner circle and ardent political supporters says it all. We can observe hangers-on with no other avenue for economic survival except for their politically derived income. They are like the proverbial hyenas in The Lion King when Scar reminds them bluntly that they “won’t get a sniff without me!”

Mr Burt has spent the past five years building his political career on this foundation. The delegate/MP vote was his latest payout. This is where the question posed by the title comes into play. Mr Dickinson offered an off-ramp from this disastrous political course.

As a One Bermuda Alliance member, I was hoping that Mr Dickinson would win, even though I believe the OBA has a better chance of victory with Mr Burt as leader. However, my nation’s interest and my desire for a better Bermuda outweigh my political aspirations. The hope was that Curtis would lessen the national disaster of Mr Burt’s leadership until a General Election is called in three years.

What the 122 delegates and 29 MPs [Dennis Lister, as Speaker of the House, was precluded from voting] were presented with was a premier who came to power in 2017 and almost immediately paid $1.2 million to former premier and PLP donor Ewart Brown. Soon after, he loaned 800,000 of our tax dollars to a questionable businessman who disappeared with the money. It wasn’t even reported to the police for years until The Royal Gazette broke the story to the public.

There are other questionable deals, including the sale of Victoria Hall to alleged fraudsters and his fintech consultant being paid millions.

On the other hand, Mr Dickinson presented as a successful self-made Black Bermudian from humble beginnings, casting his hat into the PLP leadership ring. The Bermudian grapevine says that his integrity is unquestioned. He clearly demonstrated this for all when he gave up his $200,000 finance minister’s salary to sit on the back benches in disagreement with what appears to be another disastrous Burt decision regarding the Fairmont Southampton deal.

The final vote says that Mr Dickinson misread the political arena of the delegates and MPs. The vote clearly reveals that the collective of the PLP inner circle overwhelmingly does not care about honest leadership and integrity, which Dickinson ran on.

What it says to me, and presumably you as well, is that the PLP as a party does not care what happens to the country at large. It can run up the national debt, drive up inflation like never before and force Bermudians overseas seeking opportunities and refuge. It will allow the education system to underperform and cause healthcare costs to skyrocket out of the reach of those that need it the most. It will deplete the pension contributions, and keep taxing, spending and running up the national debt.

If this is what it takes for the PLP to get its share, so be it.

This is the “me first” inner sanctum of the party. Mr Burt understands this. He has brazenly co-opted the labour unions and even the Church. Many of them are people who benefit directly from having Mr Burt in power. What they appear to be saying is that “Burt is our man”. He is with our programme. Burt butters our bread and he is the ticket to seeing to it that it is. Who needs anyone trying to do the right things in the right way with the lofty ideas about integrity?

The problem with selling our nation’s soul to the Devil is that there is the price of Hell to pay. There is the ruin of the country and everything that comes with it. The signs of this are a declining economy, falling standard of living, increasing cost of everyday necessities and fewer good-paying jobs.

The least favourable part of all is that our children will pay an even higher price and, unfortunately, things will be far worse for them than it is for us.

• Vic Ball was a One Bermuda Alliance senator from November 2014 to July 2017, and more recently a candidate in the 2020 General Election in Smith's West (Constituency 9)