Backbencher Arthur Hodgson will challenge Premier Jennifer Smith for the leadership of the Progressive Labour Party at the party's delegates conference next week "if called upon to serve".

It is the same stance he took when he first challenged the Premier two years ago, which irked some of his supporters who said he should have conducted a public and open campaign.

But, in a conversation peppered with references to his Christian faith, Mr. Hodgson this week explained why he is taking what some might say is a laid back approach.

"My political thinking in terms of my background grows out of my growing up here (Crawl Gospel Hall) and my understanding of the scriptures." He said he had no hesitation in challenging the Premier in 2000 because "if you are going to have a democratic culture you've got to be open to challenge".

He said he has already put his cards on the table regarding next week's conference: "If people ask me to serve, I'm willing to serve".

The conference runs from Monday through Thursday and because of changes to the Constitution the party will not have another opportunity to change its officers for another four years. It is unclear whether the Premier will be challenged as talk of ousting her has quietened down considerably since the party's annual symposium in September.

Mr. Hodgson said that his exposure to a democratic, open and non-hierarchical church organisation had made him into a "democrat" and a firm believer in consensus building.

"All this nonsense about big cars and flying first class. To me it is anathema because minister means service.

The concept comes out of the church and the church minister - he serves."

But he conceded that he had no idea whether anyone will nominate him and revealed that his approach to elections was far from conventional.

"If we are going to have a `New Bermuda' we have to have a new way of doing business and the idea of having competitive election in which I'm standing up and telling you of all my virtues and all the other guy's faults - that's the way elections are traditionally conducted," Mr. Hodgson said.

"But it's not the way I would like to conduct elections because I would like to think that I can praise people for their positives and in terms of my negatives I can admit them and get help to overcome them. That may sound unusual or idealistic but that's the purpose. That's what I would like to do. God doesn't make losers. The way we organise things you've got winners and losers. What I believe in is every child's a winner."

He said the Island's industrial strife was as a result of people not feeling fully included in the affairs of the country.

"And to be quite honest with you, anyone who is going to assume a role of leadership, if he's going to do a proper job, don't rush to take the job. They are all like Moses, hanging back because they understand the enormity of the responsibility that's upon them."

People who get into office for their own benefit may see it differently, he added, but a leader has to "bear the burden of the weakest". He shied away from giving his assessment of Ms Smith's performance as Premier, when asked. "What the PLP has done for the last four years is to demonstrate that they can run the country. The big problem that we had when I started in politics, was racism... that white people could do things that we inherently couldn't do. The battle over the years politically has been to persuade people that they are as good as the next person."

But "those people weren't running the country very nicely", he continued. "So the next political job in Bermuda that needs to be done is to have a good Government, not just a government that can run things but a government that can run things well - a government where you don't need to be kicking people to be in place but where they feel a part and they can come out and do a job. We need teachers who are so into the rest of society that they are glad to be teachers."

On housing he said that there are people in his neighbourhood who are homeless who "have not been touched by the PLP".

"We've got people who live in barns, they live in cellars. At night they look for shelter in the trees. These people don't even know where the housing office is and they don't look to the housing office for assistance. We haven't touched these people."

He said that drugs are as much a problem as they were ten years ago because the same failed polices were being implemented.

And the public had lost the high expectations that had greeted the PLP's victory in 1998 because the Government had, in other areas as well, been pursuing the same policies of the UBP.

"People with fresh ideas and forward looking were (considered) kooks. And the same civil servants would pass up the same policy papers and the same decisions were taken. What role does Jennifer Smith play in that?, he was asked. "Jennifer Smith is only as good as the people around her. In a good group of people I think Jennifer will perform well. If the members of the party don't participate in the party they will give no instructions to the delegates. If the delegates take instructions from the top, then Jennifer can't go beyond herself. But what we need to do in Bermuda is for the country to go beyond us as individuals because none of us have it all."

With proper inclusion, one person's forte can make up for another's weaknesses, he continued.

He had "spent all his life" preparing himself for public life, Mr. Hodgson said. "When I tell the electorate that I can do a job, I've already taken the steps to make sure that I can do any job that's connected to legislation or running the country. But even with all of that, there are all kinds of situations that one faces where I just didn't learn my lessons very well, or I was too dumb to absorb the lesson or there was a chapter that I missed. And that's where someone else comes in."

As an artist Ms Smith has skills that had served the party well in bringing it to power. "In terms of the theatrical aspects of politics, I think she was able to put together the kind of theatre that didn't turn people of election day the way some of her predecessors used to do. But once you win an election I'm not sure that artistic skills are the same skills that are necessary. You've got to be able to evaluate resources. You've got to be able to have a philosophic base that goes somewhere."