New Opposition Leader Kim Swan has his first opportunity to set out his stall today when he delivers the Reply to the Throne Speech.

Mr. Swan, who was somewhat surprisingly elevated to the leadership of the United Bermuda Party last month, needs to lay out his own beliefs and principles and to show where he intends to take his party.

He needs to do this for several reasons. One is that although he was elected leader by his fellow UBP MPs, he has not had the opportunity to explain to the public why he should lead the party ¿ or why he is the person best suited to lead the UBP to power.

He also needs to show that the UBP, despite its election defeat, is ready to be a strong Opposition and is not prepared to throw in the towel.

Mr. Swan also has to show that he can handle the rough and tumble of the House of Assembly, compared to the Senate, which has been less confrontational and more collegial in recent years than was once the case.

Mr. Swan also has to reassure his own colleagues that now is not the time to jump ship, as some were preparing to do before his election as leader.

And he will also have to prove that he is the first choice to lead the party, after more senior MPs like Patricia Gordon Pamplin and John Barritt put themselves out of play.

So far Mr. Swan has done reasonably well, putting together a Shadow Cabinet which is a nice balance of youth and experience.

He was right to put E.T. (Bob) Richards in as Shadow Finance Minister, while moving the often fiery Patricia Gordon Pamplin to Works, where she was previously very effective.

Giving some of the newer MPs reasonably senior roles is also wise; the future of the UBP most likely belongs to them, and they need to earn their spurs.

In the critical areas of social rehabilitation and racial empowerment, Darius Tucker and Donte Hunt need to take the UBP forward and help it to shed its legacy, if that is possible.

Mr. Swan's most interesting appointment was to make former Opposition Leader Michael Dunkley Senate Opposition Leader.

This can play out in two ways. It says that Mr. Swan has confidence in Mr. Dunkley as a capable politician who still has much to contribute to the UBP. By keeping him in the fold, it gives Mr. Dunkley a chance to maintain his national profile and to return to the House of Assembly at some point.

The risk is that Mr. Swan will be tied to, for want of a better phrase, Mr. Dunkley's past leadership, in which the UBP failed to make ground in the past election.

It is also possible that Mr. Dunkley will also overshadow Mr. Swan, and it would be easy for the Progressive Labour Party to claim that Mr. Swan is only the temporary leader, and that Mr. Dunkley is still the real leader.

That may be unfair, but to dispelling it will require that Mr. Dunkley takes a back seat, which will be hard to do in his current role, and it will most likely require Mr. Swan to break with a policy closely identified with his predecessor.

An easy one would be to publicly disavow the UBP's politically suicidal proposal to give permanent resident certificate holders status.

Above all, Mr. Swan needs to be bold. He has an opportunity now to reshape his party and to "think the unthinkable" in finding better ways for Bermuda to move forward. This is one of the luxuries being in Opposition. Mr. Swan should grasp it with both hands.