Former United Bermuda Party Leader Wayne Furbert yesterday completed his switch to the Progressive Labour Party, telling the public: "My contribution must be to help our Government succeed."

Delivering a personal explanation to the House of Assembly before "crossing the floor" to join his former rival colleagues, Mr. Furbert conceded he would lose friends and would now walk a sometimes lonely road.

But rising from his seat at the end of an emotional speech, Mr. Furbert was greeted by warm handshakes and hugs from a number of PLP MPs, including Premier Ewart Brown.

In the public gallery, a large contingent of the Hamilton West MP's family clapped; they are said to have joined the PLP along with Mr. Furbert.

"The Progressive Labour Party Government must succeed, or we all will fail," Mr. Furbert told the House in his speech.

"Our economy must prosper or we all will suffer. For me, this alternative is too horrific to consider. During the year that I have been in the political wilderness, countless people have come to me saying that I still have something to offer and contribute to Bermuda.

"I believe that my contribution must be to help our Government succeed. For this reason, Mr. Speaker, I have asked that I be permitted to cross the floor and join the Progressive Labour Party."

Mr. Furbert said such a move is nothing new, naming UK Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill as somebody who did it more than once.

He continued: "This decision may mean that some of the people I consider friends will no longer accept my friendship.

"This decision may mean that some of the places I go will not be as welcoming. This decision will mean that sometimes the road I walk will be lonely.

"But if this is the sacrifice I have to make to help make Bermuda a better place than so be it. For I will not surrender, I will not retreat."

Mr. Furbert has been a Hamilton Parish MP since 1993 — apart from a five-year spell from 1998 — and led the UBP for just over a year in 2006/07. He quit the UBP in December 2008, after making numerous stinging attacks accusing the party of being unwilling to transform itself into an election-winning vehicle, and sat as an Independent MP until yesterday.

His move to the PLP has provoked criticism from several backbenchers, who told this newspaper he was letting down constituents who voted for him under the UBP banner, and raised concerns of a UBP infiltration into the PLP.

Yesterday, Mr. Furbert told the House although he supported the UBP since a young boy he now believes it is "hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday".

His speech carried a recurring theme of "I am who I am", with the MP stressing that despite his change of allegiance he retains his desire to help people as a politician. He concluded: "The time has come for Wayne Livingston Furbert to renew my approach, to pledge my support, my mind, my body and my strength towards building a better Bermuda. "It's time for me to serve Bermuda and the world as a member of the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party because, Mr. Speaker, it is who I am and 'I am who I am'."

Dr. Brown told this newspaper yesterday: "The Bermuda Progressive Labour Party is a big tent, where diverse ideas, opinions and approaches are welcomed and embraced.

"We in the PLP have a history of understanding that people can change and we have always supported and embraced those willing to change. No political entity in 2010 can boast of having a surplus of talent and I am confident that MP Furbert will add something to the mix."

For an interview with Mr. Furbert, see Monday's Royal Gazette.