Maybe Premier Alex Scott should pull out his DVD of The Godfather.

He doesn?t have to watch the whole thing; just the scene when Don Corleone famously declares: ?Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.?

It?s particularly appropriate right now, because from the Government?s point of view, having Renee Webb in the Cabinet where she was restricted by collective responsibility was preferable to having her on the back benches, where she is free to say what she wants and is taking full advantage of the fact.

Mrs Webb walked away from her Tourism, Telecommunications and E-Commerce portfolio this summer, following disagreements with Mr. Scott on the Government?s direction.

Some of the contents of those arguments are disputed, but there has been no argument that Mr. Scott famously declared he was ?the man? who couldn?t be got around, over or through as Premier.

Now Ms Webb is certainly talking over the Premier, having split with the Government on a number of key issues in the last week, some of which have turned the usual political assumptions on their heads.

First Ms Webb produced a copy of South Africa?s legislation on affirmative action and black economic empowerment and urged the Government to adopt it. She found more Opposition MPs supporting her than her own colleagues.

Then she came out in support of an independent Tourism Authority, which was in the Opposition United Bermuda Party?s platform, and criticised the changes in tourism policy introduced by her successor Dr. Ewart Brown.

She also said that if the Government failed to bring Human Rights Act amendments barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, then she would being a private member?s bill. She made that comment after Mr. Scott had stated that the legislation ?was not a priority?.

So it is clear that Ms Webb is enjoying the freedom of the backbencher after trying, in her opinion unsuccessfully, to effect change from ?the inside? where she was an effective Minister when she wasn?t mired in controversy.

Ms Webb?s recent statements make the Government look increasingly divided.

Just this week, former long-time PLP MP Reginald Burrows, whom Mr. Scott appointed to the Senate, criticised Government?s hotel development plans, saying conditions requiring housing for Bermudians and non-Bermudian staff were likely to kill all future development plans.

And while some PLP MPs and Senators have manfully tried to promote the ?Social Agenda?, they have had a tough time of it, given the emptiness of the document.

Since Mr. Scott hoped this would put the PLP back on course and silence its growing cadre of critics, this has not helped. And Ms Webb?s comments also overshadowed the Premier?s own speech in London to some extent, where he did give a more eloquent rationale for the Social Agenda than he had managed previously.

But Mr. Scott will struggle to bring about what changes he has promised if he cannot keep his own Parliamentary group in order. And that will be increasingly difficult.

What, after all, can he do to Ms Webb when removing the whip would simply give her even more freedom to speak and she has made it clear she has no interest in returning to Cabinet while he is Premier?

Worse, her example may encourage other PLP backbenchers to speak out, and that will make Mr. Scott?s job even harder.