It has been a long held ambition of Dr. Brown to become both leader of the Progressive Labour Party and the country.

He has been cast as the main protagonist of the events of 2003 which saw the PLP?s first Premier, Dame Jennifer Smith?s term of office end with current Premier Alex Scott eventually being chosen as her successor.

But Dr. Brown points out he has been incorrectly portrayed in connection with those events and is adamant he would not seek to usurp his leader to gain power.

However, should he be asked to take up the reins he would not hesitate.

?I have made my political ambitions clear that I would love to qualify for the leadership and if my Party ever asked me to assume a position of leadership I would not hesitate,? he said.

?On the other hand I am now a member of a team and I work for the Premier at his discretion. He knows I am a team player who does not hide an ambition that I have had for a long time.?

But he says unseating the Premier by political machiavellianism is not his style.

And referring to the removal of Dame Jennifer as Premier, he said: ?Some people confuse the events of 2003. It was not something that originated from my personal ambition to lead. It happened because 12 people felt the need for change.

?After I was nominated for the leadership, people put two and two together and assumed it had been a plan concocted by me for my benefit, but that is not true.

?Twelve people felt there was a need for a change in the leadership ? that was the thrust at the time.?

Does he feel that because of the way the events of 2003 have been generally interpreted his standing as a potential successor to Mr. Scott has been damaged? ?I often view the effort to qualify for leadership as not being a ?Teflon experience? where nothing sticks. In order to contribute politically there must be ups and downs and there are some misunderstandings.

?I recall the words of former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who said ?The best response to a pack of lies is massive results?. Rather than focus on the image that?s constructed by others I focus on getting the work done. I?m paid to bring about improvements to the country and that?s what I want to by judged on.?

When asked if the leadership of the PLP and the country is something he has talks about with the Premier, Dr. Brown replied: ?I have very little discussion about leadership. I have told the Premier that if I ever chose to challenge for the leadership he would be the first to know.

?The Premier has been extremely supportive of me in giving me this Ministry. I have always wanted a Ministry where there was a steep hill to climb.?

Dr. Brown?s rise to the second most powerful political position in the land has been shaped by a turbulent youth that saw him move to Jamaica as that country broke free from dependence, and was followed by an active role in college campus protests in the US during the late 1960s.

In his formative years, during a time when he was neglecting his studies, his parents sent him to Jamaica in a bid to improve his work-rate. He arrived as the country was on the cusp of breaking from colonial rule and claiming its own independence.

What he saw and experienced left a big impression. His subsequent exposure to civil rights and protest movements within the US college system instilled a sense of radicalism that has shaped his character.

Dr. Brown was inspired to take up a medical career when only 10 years old, following in the footsteps of his uncle G.B. McPhee who was a practising physician.

But as he grew older he ?got off track? despite winning a Bermuda Government scholarship to Berkeley Institute at 11.

?I lost interest in school and was transferred to the Technical Institute. Then one day I was sat there smoothing the edge of a paint scraper I?d made in metal work and I realised I had gone off track and had to get back on track.?

His parents felt that wasn?t happening quick enough and packed him off to live with an aunt in Jamaica.

?I did not realise it was going to represent a new chapter in my life. It showed me a different way of life. Here were a visibly proud people that, at that time, were on the verge of independence. It was a country where that debate (Independence) was going on and I was exposed to that night after night; the soap box oratories and politicians like Norman Manley and Alexander Bustamante.

?I was hearing these debates and listening to fiery discussions and I was taken by it. After being in Jamaica for a few months I knew that I would likely have a political career. I catalogued what was happening and put it in my mind,? said Dr. Brown.

The teenager picked up his studies and began to excel as a sportsman, both at cricket and track and field.

He represented Jamaica?s high schools in the 400-yard sprint and set a impressive time of 48.5 seconds which led to a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois, but having no great love for cold climates he turned it down when he saw photographs of cars buried in snow during a typical Illinois winter.

Instead he went to Howard College in Washington DC, where he won letters for his sporting prowess in soccer and track running. He represented Bermuda in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica where he reached the second round of the 400 yards. It was at this distance he continued to excel finally recording a flat 46 seconds for the one-lap ? an achievement that even today would put him on the radar for national squad call-up amongst many track and field nations.

In one notable athletics conference championship duel, the young Dr. Brown engaged in a ?battle Royale? with future American track legend Vince Matthews, losing out by tenths of a second to the man who took individual gold in the 400m at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

As president of the student body, Dr. Brown became involved in the protest movements then sweeping the US.

A 1968 demonstration at the college brought about by what he terms ?differences with the college administration? led to the establishment being closed down and ultimately victory for the students? demands.

Dr. Brown remembers: ?It was one of the most educational experiences I have had. I had not engaged or led anything of that size before. We were learning consequences as we went along. We did not analyse as we went, what we were doing was high risk. It taught me that you have to leave the comfort zone to make change happen.

?I was afraid that I might be deported but I was more committed to the cause than afraid. I felt I was making a worthwhile sacrifice.?

The protests did not damage his educational aspirations and shortly afterwards he was admitted to the medical school.

?Despite my promise to myself that I was now leaving politics behind, within months I was back at it again doing protest politics and involved in a boycott of the anatomy department.?

It is this background that Dr. Brown says gives him an acute understanding of the mindset of strikers and protestors.

Graduating as a doctor in 1972, Dr. Brown moved to California where he set up as a general practitioner and where he lived and worked for 20 years. He also went to UCLA to study population control. During his occasional visits back to Bermuda he kept abreast of the political climate. The visits increased in frequency from the beginning of the 1990s until the commuting was monthly as Dr. Brown set about establishing a practice on the Island while maintaining his California business. It was becoming too much of a strain to continue and, having been asked by PLP leader Freddie Wade to return and help the Party he finally did so just before the 1993 election.

?I was not considered electable. referred to me as an ?unelectable?. I won by 14 votes,? said Dr. Brown. The PLP remained in Opposition for a further five years until the breakthrough of 1998 when Dr. Brown was made Transport Minister.

When he was later given the tourism brief Dr. Brown had to further cutback on his medical career.

He said: ?I derive a different kind of satisfaction from the practice of medicine as from politics. In politics the satisfaction comes from convincing other people and engaging in political battle, which I enjoy. But there?s a different enjoyment from working with a patient to make them well again ? and there is much less tension.?

His efforts within the Tourism Ministry have made Dr. Brown one of the Government?s star operators, a view expressed by a number of international delegates at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference held at the Fairmont Southampton earlier this month.

But while they spoke of the Minister?s charisma, enthusiasm and drive, they expressed bewilderment as to why no taxi drivers on the Island shared that view.

The impact of the $2,000 GPS system for all taxi operators, which was made a mandatory requirement this year, is the obvious reason.

The GPS computerised aid that uses satellite technology to pinpoint the location of any taxi at a given time and, in theory, streamlines the operation and provides accurate information to show any weaknesses to the taxi supply on Island, such as a reported lack of taxis at the Airport which led to a call last week for hotels to be able to run their own shuttle service.

Dr. Brown said: ?I have never had any conflict with the taxi business until GPS arose. But I know of many who were against it initially who now love the technology.?

He has never considered the $2,000 outlay a big issue and says this is borne out by the fact most taxi drivers have not taken up the opportunity to collect a tax rebate on the equipment.

?GPS does not drive taxis. It has data-gathering capacity. When we hear that guests are not being picked up at the Airport in any time-frame then the system should be able to tell us how many taxis are in circulation.?

Dr. Brown said he was confident that the Bermuda Taxi Association and other taxi operators would remedy the Airport taxi situation without the need for any Government-led action.

Tourism is now heading back in the right direction, according to Dr. Brown. He said much sought after investment in the hotel sector is happening and the Tourism Ministry has taken on the role of guide to lead would-be developers through Government bureaucracy to make it a less burden-some process.

?We want to stay with the developers through the process. We want to experience all the difficulties they have with our bureaucracy so we can improve the bureaucracy.

?The Tourism Permanent Secretary Marc Telemaque is as skilful a civil servant as you will find. He is helping to walk the developers through Government bureaucracy.?

At the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference people representing prestigious hotel groups including Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Regent and Hilton, were in attendance and Dr. Brown said he spoke to them and knows they took time out to view potential hotel sites on the Island.

?They all seem to be excited about Bermuda?s new buzz in investment,? he said.

The future of the former Club Med hotel in St. George?s continues to attract concern. Having lain empty for the best part of two decades the monolithic building that overlooks the Island?s East End is now within the sights of a development group KJA. The fact that no-one from KJA has been presented to the public should not be seen as a reason to doubt the existence or credibility of the US-based company.

Dr. Brown said: ?What we have now is a developer who does more and talks less. He?s not interested in a heavy media play. He wants to make sure his financing is in place and I?ve been impressed by his willingness to talk with Government.

?I know this person exists. We have a confidentiality agreement. In the past Bermuda has driven away potential suitors because what was private has been made public.?

He contrasted the behind closed doors arrangements of the Club Med developer with the open announcement by film star Michael Douglas about the link-up with the Hilton Group that will see Ariel Sands redeveloped as a luxury hotel and vacation club enterprise.

Mr. Douglas was keen to fully inform the public about what was going on at the South Shore resort, Dr. Brown explained: ?He was happy to come out, that is his approach. This gentleman (the Club Med developer), knowing that site, its history and his prior relationship with the former developer has taken a different approach.

?I?m not going to allow him to be inactive. Every perspective developer is on our radar screen. We look for concrete movement. Every developer is asked to show progress ? some are faster than others.?

Questions fired at Government, and Dr. Brown in particular, regarding the awarding of a $13-million North American tourism advertising contract to GlobalHue caused the Minister to make his infamous comment that he would not answer what he referred to as ?plantation questions?.

The matter of the tendering process that resulted in GlobalHue being awarded the three-year contract has incurred speculation over the fact that GlobalHue founder and CEO Don Coleman is a friend of Dr. Brown and was a major contributor to Rev. Al Sharpton?s US presidential campaign in 2004 ? the same year the presidential hopeful was brought to Bermuda as a keynote speaker at a Bermuda Industrial Union dinner.

The idea that by helping to secure the $50,000 speaking engagement Mr. Coleman?s company was given the reward of a shoe-in to the $13m advertising contract grates with the Tourism Minister.

It is the line of questioning that followed the appointment of GlobalHue that Dr. Brown says illustrates ?plantation questions?.

He explained: ?It is a question that conjures up for me images of the plantation where the relationship between owner and servant is man and boy. A plantation question is a question that is rarely asked of a white politician.?

His focus, however, remains on the positives he sees now within Bermuda?s tourism sector and the belief and support being shown by people across the board who recognise the need for the Island to have a strong economic pillar through tourism as a safeguard against any decline in international business.

?I?m delighted Bermudians are responding to the call to get involved with tourism.?