SIR John Swan complained bitterly in the aftermath of his failed 1995 Independence referendum bid and subsequent resignation as Premier that he did not get as much as an invitation for a cup of tea from his erstwhile political colleagues.

By the time the last election was called one might have assumed that Sir John was finally getting lots of invitations again. However, in view of his recent comments concerning Bermuda's political situation, I doubt his old colleagues would want to spend much time with him.

He has come to an interesting conclusion as far as the impact of race on Bermuda's politics.

"The United Bermuda Party was not able to get competent candidates to run so (the party) was seen as though it was made up of a number of whites who have real qualifications ? lawyers, business people and Dr. Grant Gibbons ? himself and a number of blacks who didn't have that intellectual background".

He seemed to be saying that the UBP is unable to attract black professionals and/or business people who are able to attract the black vote. But does it all come down to race? Is that really the driving force that has led Bermudians to vote for a second black Progressive Labour Party Government?

It has long been my opinion that as long as the UBP formed the Government that the majority of black people in this country would remain a political minority. This does not mean that I did not see black people in the successive UBP Governments: rather I did not perceive that the biracial UBP Government, by and large, either represented my interests or addressed the issues I thought were important.

So even the cadre of black professionals who were so often at the forefront of UBP activities were unlikely to draw my political support. I believe my opinion was shared by a great many black Bermudians who have supported the PLP down through the long years that it remained in the political wilderness.

A kind of myth has grown up around UBP founder, the late Sir Henry. Tucker. He is supposed to have been the pragmatic white political leader who wanted to squeeze race out of Bermuda's politics. But was that his real intent? In the 1960s Sir Henry is once reputed to have said that black Bermudians will become members of the United Bermuda Party "but they will look just like me . . ."

Of course, he was talking about philosophy not race: what he meant was that black members of the UBP would share the same political, economic and social views as him.

what he envisioned was not the type of social transformation that would see the black community taking political power as a whole but rather a coalition of whites and like-minded black Bermudians who would hold on to the control of the Government. This would indicate to me that the UBP was out of touch with the political aspirations of the broad masses of black people for a lot longer than just in recent times.

A clear example of this are the circumstances that saw labour pioneer Dr. E.F. Gordon take his famous White Paper to London. This important document addressed a host of outstanding social issues that impacted mostly on the black community in the 1950s.

Dr. Gordon's initiative was politely accepted by the British but its contents were firmly rejected by Whitehall's representative in Bermuda. The then-Governor had communicated to London that many responsible people in Bermuda sincerely believed that the petition represented only the views of Dr. Gordon and emphasis was put on the fact that he was an immigrant from Trinidad.

The Governor further concluded that in his opinion the petition did not warrant the appointment of a Royal Commission as called for by Dr. Gordon as its contents did not represent the true state of affairs in the colony even though Dr. Gordon's White Paper touched on a wide array of topics including labour and wages, the hospitals, education, social security, the franchise and other issues most germane to the concerns of the black community.

The Governor attempted to put the issue of a commission off for 12 months, employing a kind of constitutional delaying tactic. However, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies would later mandate the creation of a Parliamentary Joint Select Committee to recommend changes to Bermuda's discriminatory laws.

In a policy statement that is, in fact, most germane to recent events concerning Bermuda's present Governor and the PLP Government over the question of the island's new Chief Justice, the Secretary of State for the Colonies said: "The colony of Bermuda has, however, enjoyed representative government for over 300 years and it is clearly desirable and necessary that, in the first place at any rate, examination (of social inequalities in Bermuda) should be undertaken by or at the instance of the colonial legislature".

That statement demonstrates a number of things: first, even though it marked the first time the British had intervened so dramatically in Bermudian affairs, they were most anxious that the process of establishing a commission would be in the hands of the Bermuda Parliament.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies was also clear that Bermuda had a Governor who made no bones as to which advice he was prepared to heed ? and that was the advice of Bermuda's white minority who had control of the legislature and not its black majority who had a very limited political representation and, by and large no political rights.

Finally, it is instructive as to who was made the chairman of the ensuing commission which issued findings that were bitterly opposed by the few black political leaders in Parliament. It was the Bermudian version of "hurry-up-and-wait" with the commission recommending "a go-slow" approach to the removal of discrimination in the public services and recommending against Universal Adult Suffrage but suggesting a gradual extension of the franchise by reassessment of property valuation.

While making a statement in favour of equal opportunities for both races, contradictorily the board favoured continued segregation in social situations including schools. The Parliamentary Joint Select Committee was chaired by Sir Henry Tucker.

was the Bermuda of that day, one that upheld the myth of so-called representative government while at the same time denying the right to vote to the majority of its citizens who were black (for a more in-depth study of those times read J. Randolf Williams' book

This is the central quandary the UBP faces over the question of race in Bermudian politics. It has never really had to consider the core issues that are so relevant in the black community. It only became suddenly aware of such issues after it lost control of the Government in 1998.

And that is its continuing dilemma: even with its black membership how will it engage the political aspirations of the black community and win back the Government?