A Government backbencher launched the Parliamentary backlash against the Premier yesterday, accusing him of plunging the Country into an "international crisis".

Wayne Perinchief told MPs he had difficulty containing his anger at Ewart Brown's decision to give asylum to four Guantánamo detainees "without any form of consultation".

Accusing Dr. Brown of dictatorship, the Pembroke Central MP said the Progressive Labour Party leader should be "sanctioned" for going against the rule of law and Constitution of Bermuda.

"This is a red letter day for this Country, and not one to celebrate," he said.

Mr. Perinchief was the first speaker during the Motion to Adjourn yesterday, which was dominated by talk on the four Chinese Muslims.

Dr. Brown, Minister of Tourism and Transport, gave a Ministerial Statement earlier on the four Uighur detainees.

The statement was reported in full on The Royal Gazette's website on Thursday, following an announcement that morning.

Yesterday Dr. Brown said: "The bond of friendship between the United States and Bermuda is immeasurably strengthened through this action as evidenced in a telephone call I received last night from President Obama.

"The President called because he wanted to express his appreciation to the Government and the people of Bermuda for the step we have taken a step that he described as 'the right thing to do'.

"After that call, I am even more confident of two things. One, this decision is the right one from a humanitarian perspective, and two, in 400 years, our nearest geographic neighbour to the west has never been as close as she is today."

However, the Premier's agreement with the US to give the four men refuge and a chance of citizenship on the Island has distanced him even further from his Party rebels.

Mr. Perinchief told the House: "I find it extremely discomforting to have to rise to my feet and say this on a matter of immigration, on a matter of public safety, on a matter of constitutional correctness, on a matter of transparency and openness all of these matters force me to rise to my feet on this day.

"Mr. Speaker we have been challenged in this Country on issues concerning and surrounding leadership, and by that I mean the general term and widest possible application of leadership.

"With leadership comes responsibility to be accountable to some order, to some orderliness. We have seen with the announcement yesterday that four foreign nationals had blended into our jurisdiction, come into our jurisdiction without any form of accountability, without any form of consultation, excepting that of the Minister of Home Affairs, the person responsible for immigration, and singularly the Premier, the Minister of Transport and Tourism.

"Those individuals singularly without consultation with the Cabinet, without consultation with the Government caucus, which includes elected members of Parliament and those elected to the Senate.

"Not to be any less important, the Progressive Labour Party Central Committee and all of those people who represent the 36 constituencies of this Country, the ordinary man in the street upon who this decision impacts.

"Mr. Speaker it does boggle the mind that a Premier in a position of leadership, a Premier that has touted openness, who reportedly prescribes to transparency ... a person who I have described as dictatorial and divisive, should act in exactly the same manner and with the same behaviour on which I accuse him of conducting his leadership.

"Mr. Speaker, those of us who sit in this honourable House have a responsibility to respect the Constitution of this Country we are sworn and bound to respect.

"And if any one of us goes against this Constitution then we should be sanctioned.

"Mr. Speaker we have heard from the Premier's own lips that he failed to consult with, first of all, the Governor of this Island, failed to go to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and brought into this Country with the compliance and acquiescence of a foreign country that of the USA which has no sovereignty in this Country these persons.

"Friends do not impose their will on others and decide to act in a way that is going to impact on that friend's constitutions.

"This is not a simple matter of immigration, there is very little similarity to when we brought Vietnamese refugees to this Country. That was a humanitarian act.

"In this instance we have brought four foreign nationals who have been accused of terrorism. They stayed in Guantánamo under close surveillance and the custody of the American government who believed at the time they were terrorists."

Mr. Perinchief then asked how the Chinese Muslims would assimilate to life in Bermuda.

"How can a population of 75,000 afford some kind of refuge which should be benign and covert?" he said.

"We don't even have a Chinese restaurant run by Chinese in Bermuda. They can't assimilate, they will stand out.

"Nevertheless their home country China wants them repatriated. China is a country from which we wished at one time to draw tourists and from which we wished to draw trade."

Mr. Perinchief said the issue had now placed Bermuda "between these two giants", the US and China.

"Bermuda was not known to al Qaeda in any significant way but I can assure you Mr. Speaker, we are well in the limelight of al Qaeda and the foreign press now," he said.

"These people are persons non-grata to the general international community."

He said: "My eye is directed towards a head of a government that would deem to make such a high-handed act without authority, without government, whose country has been brought to an international crisis."

He described the scenario as a "cataclysmic event forced on us", and said it had been undertaken in a "high-handed and unilateral, dare I say dictatorial manner".

Commenting on the $200 million reportedly to be given by the US to the island of Palau for accepting 17 Uighurs, Mr. Perinchief said: "I don't think we should accept blood money, it's dirty filthy payback and none of us will accept any of this. But if you talk about benevolence then so be it.

"I want to know if we get any remuneration. It's a moot point and I will carry on. I'm not imputing any bad motive, but I wish to condemn the action.

"This is a red letter day for this Country, and not one to celebrate, based on my understanding of the Constitution that this is outside of the ambit of this Government to provide either a refuge in this Country to these individuals or to provide them with citizenship.

"These are all under the remit of the Governor. Under our Constitution no one but the Governor and Foreign and Commonwealth Office can give these people domicile and citizenship of this Country.

"I've tried to remove any anger although that's very hard to contain. I will balance this event in the context that our Government is facing security issues, economic issues and issues with returning international business on these shores. Most of the business people who are Americans abhor and are terrified of terrorism.

"We also have tourism. American tourists look to Bermuda as a utopia, a place far removed from the political drama they try to escape from in their own country. "After 9/11 security became one of the prime reasons why American tourists came to other countries. Why would we encourage a problem on our shores?"