MP Jamahl Simmons — famous for being in all three of Bermuda’s main political parties — switched again last night as he re-joined the PLP to the delight of cheering green-clad faithful.

In a racially charged speech Mr. Simmons, who quit the United Bermuda Party after claiming bigots in his Pembroke West branch were about to dump him, said the UBP party had not changed.

He said: “The leopard doesn’t change his spots.

“We can’t go back to the days when people’s mortgages are pulled if you stand up for the truth.”

He said in the days of slavery the slave owners would attack the strongest slaves to scare the rest.

“The tactics haven’t changed. The game has changed. They will try to destroy all of your leaders because they want to try and pick the type of people they want.”

Mr. Simmons, who earlier this week had claimed the coming election would be “the nastiest ever”, launched a thinly-veiled broadside against United Bermuda Party chairman Shawn Crockwell, who famously stole drugs from a Supreme Court cell and did a lengthy jail term before becoming a lawyer.

Mr Simmons declared that Mr. Crockwell’s opponent in Pembroke West, Walton Brown, was a hardworking honest man.

“Unlike some candidates he didn’t have to get punished by the law to learn to be honest. Walton Brown will never say to you that you need to toughen up and learn to take criticism from white people.”

Mr. Simmons urged PLP voters to get out and vote or else risk taking the country backwards.

Asked about the attack on Mr. Crockwell, Mr. Simmons, whose father was a PLP MP, told The Royal Gazette afterwards: “He called me lazy so I think it is pretty fair. I couldn’t really care less about who runs for the UBP there. That part of my life is over.

“But I will tell you this, the lowest person, other than a paedophile, is a person who puts drugs into the community and I don’t think you would want someone who was sent to jail for being a paedophile to go into parliament and that’s how I feel.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are PLP or UBP, a drug dealer is the lowest form of life there is - above a paedophile. I think the people of Bermuda deserve better and Walton Brown is a man of integrity.”

Mr. Simmons began his political journey in the PLP but then switched to the National Liberal Party where he made a name for himself before joining the United Bermuda Party where he was quickly given a safe seat.

But earlier this year he became an independent after claiming party bosses did nothing to turf out white racists who wanted to replace him with Erwin Adderley who is also black.

Asked about his credibility after making yet another switch Mr. Simmons said: “I was interviewed on the radio once and was told ‘I never understood why you were over there with those people considering the way you talked about empowerment.’

“I think what has happened is the UBP I quit is the UBP my father fought against when he was a member of the PLP - it has reverted back to type.

“When Dr. Brown approached me he said ‘Your philosophy is in line with ours considering the way you speak. You are committed to the same things. Why wouldn’t you want to be with us?’ Basically I took him up on his invitation.”

Last September Mr. Simmons questioned whether the PLP Government had any real commitment to empowering black people — despite its radical rhetoric — and he said at that time: “They are good at talking black but they are not good at acting black. In some ways they are out-UBP-ing the old UBP in their practices.”

Asked about his volte face he said: “What I think now is very critical is there has to be forward momentum. Black people have suffered the most it is time for them to advance. That’s where I am coming from.”

He said Ewart Brown had approached him a number of times over the years but nothing had been official or formal.

“This was one of those things where in the past several weeks things came to a head. I have been thinking about it a long time.

“For the past year I have become very out of touch with the mainstream United Bermuda Party, they have become very much more conservative.”

Asked about his future plans with the PLP he said: “I haven’t been offered anything, I haven’t been promised anything and I haven’t asked for anything. Right now I prefer to be behind the scenes.”