Grace Bell after she was defeated on Friday in the election for Deputy Speaker.

And Dr. Saul described the five Government MPs who stayed away from the House of Assembly and helped Opposition MP Mr. Stanley Lowe win the post as "a few ne'er-do-wells.'' Mr. Lowe's election marks the first time since party politics began in Bermuda in the mid-1960s that an Opposition MP has held the Deputy Speaker's post.

Mrs. Bell, who gave up the Whip's post she had recently won to run for Deputy Speaker, was left without a job when she was defeated by Mr. Lowe, put forward by the Progressive Labour Party.

"I will be having discussions with her,'' Dr. Saul said after the vote. "She has a lot to offer the party.'' The Premier said Mrs. Bell had many years of experience and "I hope she has a role to play, other than just as a backbencher.'' Mrs. Bell admitted she was disappointed, but said she was not surprised. "The party has a problem,'' she said. "I'm going to leave it at that. It's not a personal thing against me, I realise that.'' A week earlier, when Parliament opened, no MP could garner the 20 votes needed to be elected Deputy Speaker after Government backbenchers put forward former Education Minister Dr. Clarence Terceira as a nominee. In secret ballot votes that day, Mr. Lowe received 18 votes, Mrs. Bell 15, and Dr. Terceira five.

On Friday, a majority of MPs in the House represented only 17 votes, because a group which Dr. Terceira has called The People's Five -- himself, Mr. C.V.

(Jim) Woolridge, Dr. David Dyer, Mrs. Ann Cartwright DeCouto, and Mr. Trevor Moniz -- were all absent.

Mr. Spurling said he was notified on Friday morning that the five MPs would not attend, "deliberately, obviously, to default the vote to the PLP candidate.'' He described the outcome as "a disappointment,'' saying he had been working on "a compromise candidate'' from the Government side on Thursday. That candidate, who he would not identify, declined to stand for election on Friday, Mr. Spurling said. "The best test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart,'' said the Whip.

After Mrs. Bell received 15 votes on the first ballot, Mr. Lowe won on the second ballot when all 18 PLP MPs voted for him. Health and Social Services Minister Harry Soares came in part way through the vote after he was delayed at a meeting and was unable to take part. His absence did not affect the outcome and Mr. Soares said he would have voted for Mrs. Bell.

Mrs. Bell said nobody else in the United Bermuda Party caucus came forward when volunteers for Deputy Speaker were first sought. "It must be deliberately...they wanted to cause this debacle,'' she said.

"Stanley is going to make a good Deputy Speaker.'' Mr. Lowe, who represents Southampton East, said he felt "humbled'' by the experience. "I do want to thank my Parliamentary colleagues for the signal honour which they bestowed upon me this morning,'' Mr. Lowe told the House.

"I want to assure all honourable members, from the front bench to the back bench, that whenever I am sitting in the chair I will make sure they are treated fairly and have every opportunity to speak.

"Mrs. Bell...fought a good fight but it seems that this was my hour,'' Mr.

Lowe said.

As he did a week earlier, Dr. Saul said there was no "whip'' on the vote that required Government MPs to follow the party line. "This has happened many times around the Commonwealth,'' he said, noting that a Labour MP was elected Speaker in London after Prime Minister John Major's Conservative MPs could not agree on who should get the post. "I can't get too excited about it at all.

It's unfortunate that we didn't coalesce around one person, but the whip was not on.'' In Parliament, "the chips fall where they may.'' Despite the lack of a "whip'' on the vote, Mr. Spurling said discipline for the absent MPs might be discussed at the next caucus meeting. "I don't believe...there's any requirement or procedure for discipline, but that's not to say that there won't be some members who will bring it up and maybe call for it.'' Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto was off the Island.

Mr. Moniz said "nothing had changed'' from a week earlier and "it didn't really make any sense to create another deadlock.'' The Smith's South MP said he has told the Whip he would support the Government in a motion of non-confidence and "if there was legislation with which I had a serious problem I would inform them as soon as possible.'' Dr. Saul defeated Mr. Woolridge for the UBP leadership after former Premier Sir John Swan resigned in the wake of the Independence referendum `no' vote.

The other four MPs in the dissident group were all supporters of Mr.

Woolridge.

The Progressive Labour Party will discuss candidates for the position of party whip at their caucus meeting on Wednesday.

PLP Leader Frederick Wade said he had not yet given any thought to who would succeed Mr. Lowe following his election as Deputy Speaker.