Veteran union activist Raymond Russell Sr. is hoping to oust Government Whip Ottiwell Simmons as Progressive Labour Party (PLP) candidate in Pembroke East at the next election.

It will be the first time Mr. Simmons, a former Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) president who has held the seat for more than 20 years, has been challenged since being first selected.

Yesterday, Mr. Simmons said he had no problems with the challenge, which he said showed democracy was alive in the party.

Mr. Russell, a long-time critic of Mr. Simmons' record as BIU president, said he decided finally to mount the challenge because he believed the MP had been involved in backbench moves to oust Premier Jennifer as party leader.

And he accused Mr. Simmons of further "disloyalty" for abstaining when Government was defeated in the House of Assembly over plans to make a central dispatching system mandatory for taxi drivers.

Ms Smith clung onto the party leadership earlier this year after PLP MPs were split in a vote demanding she step down.

Mr. Russell, a hotel worker, told The Royal Gazette: "What has really spurred me has been his disloyalty to the leadership and him being one of those involved in trying to change the leadership, which I deem to be very unnecessary because the party, and the party leader, are doing well.

"I know that he has been behind this (attempt to dislodge the Premier). He is the whip and he is supposed to keep everyone else in line and he can't even keep himself in line (over the taxi vote) and that was a lack of loyalty.

"I am confident that I can dislodge him. I have got millions of cousins and family in Pembroke.

"He does not have a good record representing the union or the people of Bermuda.

"I have followed his career as president of the union and as a Member of Parliament and I haven't seen anything positive, particularly towards hotel workers."

"He knows that I don't hold his leadership of the union in high regard.

"Because of his lack of vision, the hotel workers are worse off than they were in the 70's. He had ample time as union president to carry forward the vision of the late E.F. Gordon, particularly towards those earning minimum money.

"Collectively, there are many things that could have been done. Under Dr Gordon's leadership, he knew we needed houses for our people because a lack of education among the majority of us would work against us in years to come, which has come true.

"It is no secret that Mr. Simmons knows I've never thought of him as a good president and therefore Bermuda needs a new direction and a new type of thinking going forward."

He said the BIU should have transformed its credit union into a deposit company so that some of the union's pension fund could be used to offer low cost loans to members.

Last night Mr. Simmons said: "I have no problems at all as all of our seats are open to challenge, so there is nothing unusual in this. I am glad to see democracy is at work."

When asked to respond to Mr. Russell's claims he had been one of those PLP MPs trying to oust Ms Smith, he said: "I think you had better go further with him to get evidence for that. He is always got a lot of statements."

Responding to allegations of disloyalty over his decision to abstain on the taxi vote, Mr. Simmons said: "I did not do that because I was disloyal. I made my position clear and I expressed my loyalty to the party."