Opposition MP Maxwell Burgess’s blistering attack on his United Bermuda Party colleagues has been dismissed as sour grapes by deputy leader Michael Dunkley.

He said Mr. Burgess was frustrated after losing out in leadership bids at least once — including to Wayne Furbert last year.

Mr. Burgess has called for Mr. Furbert to resign and said the Shadow Cabinet didn’t measure up to their Progressive Labour Party counterparts in Government.

And Mr. Burgess has even called for a new grouping to be formed to take on the both the PLP and UBP after saying his own party had effectively conceded the next election after damaging splits.

Mr. Dunkley hit back last night.

“I am not surprised he keeps speaking out, he’s put forward his name to challenge and he hasn’t been successful.”

Mr. Dunkley said it was rubbish to claim the PLP’s team was better than the Opposition’s.

He said beyond the Premier and Deputy Premier, talent ran thin on the Government benches and when Nelson Bascome stepped down to fight a court case, the health brief had to be handed to an un-elected Senator rather to someone in the House. “He’s given it to the Attorney General who’s just come on the scene.”

Yesterday Mr. Burgess said his praise for the Premier was about “recognising talent” and he did not rule out an eventual move to the Progressive Labour Party. Asked if he would accept a post, if offered, he said: “If I stepped down and wasn’t involved or linked with the UBP and if the Premier of the country, whoever it was, got me on the line and said ‘Here’s a job for you, we think you can do without taking too much time from your business’, I would think I would be duty bound — anyone who gets a call from any leader of any country has an obligation to think about it.”

Earlier this week, Mr. Burgess said he would also consider offers to stand for a new political grouping if one was formed.

He said there was ‘little or no difference’ ideologically between the PLP and the UBP but it was about who could execute the policies better.

Asked why he had spent so much time in the House opposing the PLP, he said: “If I have opposed something it’s because I genuinely believed it should not happen or I might well have argued about the execution more than the actual legislation itself.”

He said he was concerned the UBP was moving to the right but he wanted to see both parties closer to the centre and he raised concerns about the PLP’s record on inclusion. However, Mr. Burgess said he understood the PLP was trying to recruit more whites.

Burgess accused of sour grapes