The United Bermuda Party's (UBP) recruitment of Sir John Swan back into public life if it wins the government has received the unqualified support of the National Liberal Party (NLP).

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, PLP supporters see the move as a political ploy.

"I give my hundred percent support to Sir John Swan and would say that he is the kind of person with his business and political contacts - both local and international - that can get Bermuda back on the road to recovery in tourism in particular," said the NLP's sole candidate Graeme Outerbridge .

"I do not see this as Sir John being political and I see Sir John coming once again to the rescue of Bermuda. He can work the political side to get legislation in place but I see this as an economic initiative that needs political support."

UBP leader Grant Gibbons announced that Sir John would head up a quasi governmental Economic Development and Tourism Authority if the party is elected to power next week.

The Authority would drive economic empowerment and rejuvenate the tourism industry in a systematic manner, the party has promised.

Earlier this week, ruling party candidate Walter Lister said that bringing Sir John back gave the lie to the UBP's claims that it had renewed itself.

Sir John was a major figure in the UBP's heyday and led the government for 13 years.

"Tourism over the last four years has been like witnessing the slow sinking of the Titanic with millions of dollars wasted," Mr. Outerbridge continued.

"The farce is the whole deception of using pictures of Hawaii, Florida, Seychelles to promote Bermuda and embarrassing the country internationally. I know he (Sir John) will get the kind of investment coming our way to rebuild the tourism infrastructure." Government had done nothing with the old Club Med property despite having had four years at the helm, he continued.

Sir John's selection is "the most important and exciting thing that has occurred during this election," Mr. Outerbridge said.

"It gives hope to Bermudian working people that are not involved in the international business sector that there is a future for them in an economic sector that has basically been haemorraghing for the last four and a half years. He is the kind of man through his success as a business man and a leader can pull the key elements together both locally and internationally to create an economic renaissance in this area and for the city of Hamilton also."

When asked, he said he was not paid by the UBP to say this. "I have no intention of joining them either. I really see him as a unifying vehicle."

And asked how Sir John could be a unifying force when he had single handedly succeeded in dividing the UBP with his independence bid, he said: "At this particular juncture - where he is and what he's got to offer, he is a unifying vehicle. I admire his courage and dedication to help out a country that he's already well served. There is no benefit to him."

PLP supporter Rolfe Commissiong echoed Mr.Lister's attitude and said that the UBP must be desperate.

"It's frankly an expression of the United Bermuda Party's desperation at this point," Mr. Commissiong said.

"I think their polls are showing them that they cannot win enough seats to win the election outright. And I think it's obvious that they are trying to bring John Swan to try to attract black middle class voters to the fold. One has to remember that one of the effects of the new electoral system is to maximise black voters who have been marginalised under the old electoral system. They have to be able to get more black voters than they did prior to the change in order to win the election."

He said the party had to do something to increase their black voter support in the western end of the Island.

"The west has a high concentration of voters and most of those high density areas are composed of black voters," he said.

"Also thematically it is problematic because they are painting themselves as the new UBP yet they are bringing back an icon from the past which again confirms to me that all is not well behind the scenes with their campaign."