United Bermuda Party chairman Jeff Sousa yesterday claimed his Warwick West rival Mark Pettingill was the instigator behind last month's high-profile party walkouts.

The chair believes Mr. Pettingill quit the party in retaliation after being reprimanded for breaking a three-line whip at this summer's motion of no confidence against Premier Ewart Brown — and ended up taking Shawn Crockwell, Donte Hunt, Michael Fahy, Sean Pitcher and Wayne Scott with him.

He also claimed Mr. Pettingill had the worst attendance record at UBP caucus, and that his failure to vote against Dr. Brown in June had led to two resignations from angry Constituency 28 branch members.

Mr. Sousa and Mr. Pettingill are likely opponents in the next General Election in that constituency — the former for the UBP, and the latter for the new party he is forming with the other defectors.

Mr. Sousa's comments come after the lawyer sarcastically dubbed him 'Mr. Environment' and said he had shot up the ranks to chairman only because the UBP pool was so shallow following numerous resignations.

"I personally feel that Mark was the instigator here, as Mark was reprimanded for not carrying on with the wishes of the people of Bermuda, particularly the members of the United Bermuda Party that elected him," Mr. Sousa told The Royal Gazette. "The three-line party whip was out. Once he was reprimanded, he did not want to come back in the room. When you are reprimanded, you either sort yourself out or you quit, because quitting is the easiest thing to do.

"He wasn't happy with it, but he never came back in the room, so that explains itself.

"Like in Bermuda, our divorce rate is 50 percent, I feel that this gentleman did not give it the necessary time."

Mr. Pettingill says his Warwick West branch was in support of his move to quit.

But Mr. Sousa argued: "It's categorically a lie that Mark's team resigned with him and are with him. Mark's team is one person. Mark's team had resigned before all this went down because they were disgusted with Mark Pettingill.

"Mark Pettingill had the worst record in attending caucus for the United Bermuda Party.

"You should be going to the people of your constituency and saying that I want to represent your wants and needs of your family, not I want you to put me on a pedestal."

He also had criticism for Mr. Hunt, saying: "Donte is a nice man, but Donte stood up at our last annual general meeting and said: 'It's not about all you, it's about me. I thought we would win the last election and I would be sitting on the backbench. I have two young daughters.'

"I say to Donte, do you have more time now you have purchased this restaurant, to deal with the issues for the people of this Country?"

Mr. Sousa said of the defectors: "I truly feel that these three gentlemen were not patient enough and all were in positions to drive change in the United Bermuda Party. They need to be more patient. Many of us had hoped they would come back into our party, but Michael Fahy made it quite clear that they did not wish to. Michael Fahy and Sean Pitcher are both past chairmen of the party. They were certainly in a position to drive change as chairmen.

"It's human nature that people are resistant to change. Even my wife Luan says one person can't make a difference. I say: 'Luan, tell that to Martin Luther King.'"

However, he said he would welcome the defectors back "if the conditions were right", explaining: "These young men have a lot to offer."

The young politicians had issued a demand that senior MPs be made to resign to make way for new blood to try to wipe out the party's reputation as old and elitist. Mr. Sousa singled out Louise Jackson as an example of an older MP who remains effective.

"They wanted us to force to resign some of the Country's most effective, active, experienced MPs. Look at Louise. Louise is such a hard-working woman to represent the people of Bermuda and in particular the seniors. How many world leaders are in their late 70s and 80s?" he said.

"I personally feel that what needs to take place is behaviour changes. It's not about putting a certain person in front. People understand if a person is real, R.E.A.L., or if a person is fake, F.A.K.E.

"As a party we made a mistake in the past by doing that. Put the right person for the job.

"That perception in the community, and this has been sold to the people of Bermuda by the Progressive Labour Party, is that we have got a bunch of white Front Street businessmen preaching to young blacks and whites. By being real in this interview, hopefully that will start to dispel that."