The Progressive Labour Party celebrated ten years in power on Saturday with the help of "son of the soil" and US politician G.K. Butterfield.

Democratic Congressman Butterfield, whose family hails from St. George's, was the keynote speaker at the 41st annual PLP banquet, held in the Fairmont Southampton's Poinciana Ball Room.

Introduced by Premier Ewart Brown as "a friend of Bermuda" who has promised to help the Island build a strong relationship with the new Obama administration, Mr. Butterfield said it was important to do more to highlight the importance of Bermuda and the US to one another.

"Your Premier and your Deputy Premier, they get it," he said. "They are working hard and they are working tirelessly to foster a good Washington relationship."

Mr. Butterfield said "nothing could be further from the truth" than a claim from the Opposition that the Government's visits to Capitol Hill were little more than photo opportunities.

He said he had seen Dr. Brown barely able to keep his eyes open after a hectic day of meetings there. "The brother was about to pass out," he said. "He was working for you."

Mr. Butterfield said it was vital to ensure that Washington saw Bermuda as more than just a destination but understood its strategic importance to the United States.

Earlier in his speech, Mr. Butterfield spoke of his "great affection for this beautiful island", which his father, the first black elected official in eastern North Carolina, left in 1917 to start a new life in the States.

He spoke of his 35-year friendship with Dr. Brown, whom he said "operates a little differently from the norm".

"Dr. Brown is thinking while most of us are sleeping," he said. "I know Dr. Brown makes some of us uncomfortable at times, but that's leaders."

The Congressman drew parallels between Bermuda and the US in the early 1960s when the PLP was formed here and the civil rights movement took hold there.

He said his country, the US, had come a long way since then and that the demographics of America were set to change profoundly, with 15 percent of the population estimated to be black by 2042.

He described Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election as "nothing less than divine intervention", a sentiment expressed by both Dr. Brown and Opposition leader Kim Swan in the House of Assembly earlier this month.

"It happened in my country on November 4 and we are just absolutely elated with this development in our country," said the former Superior Court judge and US Army veteran. "The election of Barack Obama is the beginning of a new era."

He talked about the huge challenges facing the new President-elect, especially improving America's image after the war in Iraq and the $10 trillion worth of debt he would inherit.

Mr. Butterfield ended his speech by saying he was optimistic about the future and Bermuda's relationship with the States, adding that the Island needed a US coastguard presence and that might happen "very soon". "I pledge to you my continued support," he said.