Former Progressive Labour Party cabinet minister Arthur Hodgson said yesterday his challenge against former premier Jennifer Smith in 2000 was motivated by the fact that she was not vigourous enough in addressing Bermuda's racial divisions.

And when asked why he thought she had been forced to resign recently, he said: “I wasn't a Member of Parliament, nor was I a delegate. I didn't have to consider that issue. I think she has been discussed enough. She declined the possibility of serving in the Cabinet. Let's look forward.”

Mr. Hodgson also repeated his call for sustainable development to be placed at the top of Government's agenda, with the focus put on issues such as parenting and education, as well addressing the Island's high prison population.

In the wake of last week's political fireworks, which saw Ms Smith forced to resign as Premier after she was challenged by a group of 11 MPs, Mr. Hodgson was tight-lipped about whether he thought the new Premier, Alex Scott, was a good choice for the leadership.

He said: “I'm not going to sit here and extoll the virtues of Premier Scott as if he was in a coffin and neither am I going to highlight his failures. History will determine whether he has done the job.

“I have opinions but I don't know to what extent it is any value to broadcast my opinions.

“When we speak we have to make sure that what we are saying is something that's positive. I can think of a lot of things to say and I would end up in prison for saying bad things.”

As to whether Mr. Scott and Deputy Premier Dr. Ewart Brown will remain united, Mr. Hodgson said: “Both men have their assets and they have their liabilities. I think they can continue to work together.”

Mr. Hodgson said he thought the PLP had dealt with the recent leadership crisis in a better manner than it had dealt with any similar issue in the past.

“What we saw was articulate young men, offering resolutions that brought about harmony. It was a party in action.”

Despite this, he said he thought the PLP constitution had flaws in it and added that recent changes, which made leadership conferences less frequent, had been made “precipitously” and without regard for history. But he added: “Good people will make a bad constitution work.”

Currently, the PLP constitution specifies that whoever is party leader, chosen by the delegates, is also the premier if the party is in power. Mr. Hodgson voiced his support for bringing the PLP constitution in line with the Bermuda constitution, which specifies that the premier is the person who has the support of the majority of people in the House of Assembly.

“The only thing a party can do is speak for the party. The PLP cannot decide who is to be premier because that is a government function. We are not living in a communist society where the notion is that the party is the vanguard of the people.”

On his leadership challenge against Ms Smith three years ago, he said: “I ran against her so I must have thought I could have done a better job. The delegates didn't agree with me although most of the members of parliament did.”

Mr. Hodgson added that at the time, he had felt Ms Smith's administration had not been vigourous enough in pursuing the agenda for which the PLP had first been founded.

“We were about change. When we looked at Bermudian society, we saw it was not developing harmoniously. The big factor was race, and with that came the questions of economics and education in particular.”

He added: “In 2000, Bermuda was not making the radical changes it should have been. There is no reason why, in a country like Bermuda, we should have two races of people thinking of themselves as two races. I believed I could have pushed the country in that direction more rapidly than it was going.”

But he said: “It should be remembered that whatever downfalls she had, history must record 1998 as the most momentous year next to 1834 (the emancipation of the slaves) that this country has seen. She happened to be leader of the party that won.”

He said he thought the reason she had been the leader at that time was due to Ms Smith's ability as an “artist”.

“A great deal of politics is about image and performance. Theatre is a tremendous part of politics and she made good speeches. It's not all showmanship though. Fundamentally it is about basic policies and the management of people.”

Mr. Hodgson said he thought the best way of addressing the issues Bermuda faces right now is to emphasise the family unit and address key problems such as out of wedlock pregnancies and divorce.

In regards to the latter, he said he thought couples should undergo counselling before coming to any final decision and also that the assets of the couple should be divided up before the divorce takes place, to be held in trust for the children.

“Human beings have the longest period to grow to adulthood of any species. Nature dictates that children require two parents. What we need is a social structure that encourages that.”

He said, in order to solve the current affordable housing shortage, effort should be made to work out “what constitutes a family structure”, with two parent units being given priority in determining who “ought” to get a house.

He explained: “We've first got to make a determination as to who warrants a house. We haven't come to any decisions about what constitutes a family structure.

“We have got a demand chasing a supply which is unending. We haven't decided who ought to have a house. Family structure is a first requirement before we can look at all these other problems.”