The Progressive Labour Party (PLP) will be reviewing its constitution with a view to possible reform after last weekend's power struggle.

Immediately after Alex Scott and Ewart Brown had been declared Party Leader and Deputy Leader, Dr. Brown was asked if he now accepted that the constitution provided for the PLP Leader becoming Premier if the party is in power

"There's a constitutional element in the PLP's constitution that says that the leader of the PLP, if the PLP assumes government, is also the Premier," said Dr. Brown.

"Our group took exception to that and we had a discussion here tonight. But in the future the party will address that issue because it was the source of some disagreement. We have to come back and deal with that issue."

"That will be put on the table," Mr. Scott said. "The PLP was Opposition for 30, 35 years. Our constitution served us well. But now we have gone through a period where we are no longer in Opposition, we're Government, so we have to look at our constitution to make sure it is consistent with the Bermuda Constitution."

Asked if he preferred the same person holding both posts, Mr. Scott said having a parliamentary leader who was not the party leader could lead to a "house divided" but "not necessarily so".

"A lot depends on the political maturity of the people involved," said Dr. Brown. "And if the functions are clearly defined and there's no overlap or conflict it could work out either way. Our position was that the parliamentary group should do it and that's the position we will take into any future discussions."

The party managed to preserve the constitutional status quo when 11 parliamentarians rebelled against the then Premier Jennifer Smith.

The rebels had been relying on a Bermuda Constitution provision which says the Governor must appoint as Premier the person he considers most likely to command the confidence of a majority of the new Members of Parliament.

But the party's constitution says that the leader serves as Premier when the party is in power.

And Ms Smith had been hoping that the delegates would pass a resolution keeping her as leader.

The conference of delegates is the supreme decision-making body of the PLP and could have chosen to expel the rebels instead of asking the parliamentarians to come up with a compromise.

When the MPs failed to find a compromise it was left to the delegates to choose a new leader.

The exercise resulted in preserving the status quo, but in practical terms it was the rebel parliamentarians who set the ball in motion and they succeeded in ending Jennifer Smith's premiership.

Older members of the PLP such as Dame Lois Browne Evans, would want the constitutional status quo to remain the same.

Dame Lois said that debate over leadership selection was the party's "second big row" (the first was over whether the word `labour' or `liberal' should be in the party's name).

The year was 1963, and the party had managed to get six members in Parliament. The original constitution, drawn up earlier that year, by Arnold Francis and Walter Robinson had said nothing about how to select a leader, she said.

Mr. Francis had acted as provisional leader, while Walter Robinson was acting as secretary and Ryo Richardson was chairman.

Two of the first PLP parliamentarians, Arnold Francis and Walter Robinson, were announced leader and deputy leader respectively after the six had met.

But the other party members had questions.

"There was a row over how we did it, why we did it and that they (the Central Committee) have to have a say on who the leader of our party is, not just us six," said Dame Lois.

"The outcome was that the constitution was phrased in the language it is to this day."