The challenge against Premier Jennifer Smith reported on in Saturday's Royal Gazette sets the stage for a leadership challenge at the Progressive Labour Party's November conference.

And based on the vote in the Parliamentary group - and the recent performance of the Government - this challenge may stand a better chance of succeeding than Arthur Hodgson's failed effort in 2000.

According to PLP sources, the motion launched by the backbenchers urged the Premier to resign now thus obviating the need for a bloody and public overthrow in November, just 12 months before a General Election must be called.

Of course, it is quite conceivable that Ms Smith would have left the stage two years ago if the PLP's MPs alone decided the party's leadership. In 2000, the PLP's MPs were said to have voted in favour of Mr. Hodgson, but the vast majority of the delegates from the party's branches voted for Ms Smith.

The decision to retain Ms Smith came about because it made little sense to overthrow the person who had at last brought the PLP to power.

But that challenge should have been a wake-up call to the Premier that her leadership style was winning her no friends. It is a message that she does not seem to have heeded.

Those challenging her apparently want a leader who is more approachable and more sympathetic to the needs of the less well off in the community. "We want someone who is approachable and who will take care of the needs of the majority of the people, particularly the have-nots and the not so privileged".

Jennifer Smith is not your usual politician; disdaining the hand-waving, baby-kissing approach of many former Premiers for a much more presidential and aloof style. That extends to the backbench and sometimes the Cabinet as well.

The Premier's announcement that Government would be pursuing associate membership in Caricom was a surprise to many in the parliamentary group. The ongoing Housing Corporation scandal - while not linked directly to the Premier - cannot have helped her.

But clearly, the St. George's Police Station U-turn which caught Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister, Works Minister Alex Scott and Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith by surprise was the final straw.

Bermuda's fate is not going to be decided over the St. George's Police Station. But it is symptomatic of a style of leadership that many in the PLP parliamentary group are clearly sick of. If the Premier could change policy on the fly like that, then what else is she going to do?

More importantly, it would appear that they feel that the PLP will lose a significant number of seats in the next election, or lose it altogether, if they do not change leaders soon.