Wayne Furbert’s leadership of the United Bermuda Party was doomed almost as soon as it began, political commentators told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

On the day that Mr. Furbert resigned his position as Opposition Leader, insiders claimed he never really had the support of his parliamentary group when he was voted into the position. Christian Dunleavy, UBP member and author of the politics.bm internet blog, said: “The way he came in, I never got the sense that he had a solid support base within the parliamentary group.

“He sort of slid up the middle and was acclaimed. I don’t think he ever solidified a base there in the parliamentary group.”

He added that the way the party elected its leaders, with only MPs voting, played a big part in Mr. Furbert’s downfall.

“It’s a pretty small group making that decision. You lose a couple of people and that can sway it pretty quickly.”

Another source claimed that Mr. Furbert never had the backing of MPs Michael Dunkley, Jon Brunson or Louise Jackson — and that weakened his position as leader from the start.

“He started out without a full deck in that regard,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

“I think he had to end up doing a lot of things himself. He started taking advice from the guys who opposed him. It was mainly Dunkley and Brunson. A number of MPs said to him ‘you have got to surround yourself with people who support you’. But he didn’t nurture those who did support him.”

Commentator Walton Brown suggested that Mr. Furbert “did not seem to be fully in charge consistently of the UBP”. He said the Hamilton West MP was made to shoulder a lot of the blame for the party’s poor showing in the polls.

“Wayne was picked by the party knowing full well what his skill set was and knowing full well what they were getting,” he said. “I think that Mr. Furbert had his weaknesses. But to blame him entirely for the lack of political momentum of the UBP was unfair. He was a factor but not the main factor.”

Mr. Brown said Mr. Furbert’s key failing was his lack of articulacy, especially compared to the polished presentations of Premier Ewart Brown.

“The Premier is known for his charisma and articulate presentations. Mr. Furbert did not consistently demonstrate that.”

Mr. Dunleavy agreed. “Debating was not really his strong skill,” he said. “Obviously Dr. Brown’s forte is getting up there and standing on the stage delivering speeches. I don’t think that was Wayne’s intention and maybe it was magnified when Dr. Brown took over from Alex Scott.”

Mr. Dunleavy and Mr. Brown both praised Mr. Furbert’s sincerity and genuine approach to politics — but suggested that his “man of the people” persona may not have sat well with some MPs and voters.

Mr. Dunleavy said: “He had a lot of positive attributes but at the end of the day he wasn’t able to hold it together.”

The party source claimed a lack of ideas and a failure to follow through on initiatives was the real reason for Mr. Furbert’s demise.

“A lot of his vision for Bermuda was more emotional than substantive. He did a phenomenal job as chairman in reaching out and getting people involved.

“But I think that he had an impression of what leadership was i.e. kissing and hugging and babies but that was it. I think he was actually shocked by the workload.”