Former Progressive Labour Party MP Julian Hall has called on Premier Ewart Brown's critics to "put up or shut up" following recent speculation about a leadership challenge.

And he said opponents had missed the chance to launch a leadership bid at the PLP Delegates' Conference, which begins tonight.

However last night former Attorney General Phil Perinchief repeated his call for Dr. Brown to go after accusing him of taking the PLP away from its core values.

Both Education Minister Randy Horton and Telecommunications Minister Terry Lister have publicly denied any plans to challenge Premier Ewart Brown for the leadership.

Mr. Hall, now a consultant for the Ministry of Works & Engineering, dismissed leadership speculation as "quite suspect, nefarious even". He said the Premier's critics, such as former Premier Alex Scott and former Attorney General Phil Perinchief, had been "sulking for quite some time now" adding:"Scott because of what he seems still to regard as his discourteous and premature sacking as Party Leader.

"And Perinchief, presumably because he was not renewed following the General Election as Bermuda's Attorney General.

"I have to say that I do wonder sometimes if Phil Perinchief has ever really tried to assess his own performance in that post. Probably not."

Responding last night to Mr. Hall's statement, Mr. Perinchief renewed his calls for Dr.Brown to step down.

He said: "Ewart does not have the welfare of Bermuda or Bermudians at heart and continues to insult the intelligence and competence of even his ministers and Bermudians at large.

"Whenever there is a photo opportunity or a Kodak moment, he instantly prances out in front of his ministers thus diminishing their stature and enhancing his own.

"(Monday) night was another case in point when in essence he doesn't understand the fundamentals of Bermuda's economy nor how to redirect it to serve the people who are most deserving of such change.

"He does not have a vision for this country and has taken the PLP far, far away from its core values, principles and political direction and for that alone he should go. He has lost his way.

"He is transformational, however, for all the wrong reasons."

Defending his own record Mr. Perinchief, in a written statement aimed at Mr. Hall, said: "I've been told by many more qualified than you will ever be that I did an outstanding job despite carrying the portfolio of Minister of Health simultaneously for almost half of my term in office. Of course there was room for improvement."

Mr. Perinchief said Mr. Hall's general efforts to 'prop Ewart up' were always self-serving.

Asked about Mr. Hall's statement, printed in full on page four of this newspaper, former Premier Alex Scott responded:"Ithink we are witnessing little Tommy Tucker singing for his supper and in actual fact Mr. Hall, in his release, admits as much. "

Mr. Scott added that none of his statements since leaving office as Premier had been aimed at questioning, undermining or attacking the Premier.

"Ihave never been involved in anything to encourage anyone to do anything other than support the PLP.

"Mr. Scott said he had been vocal in supporting positions he had initiated when he was Premier such as sustainable development and public access to information.

"My public utterances are not undermining or attacking the party – they are being consistent."

Mr. Hall said in his written statement that any forthcoming 'coup' could not work at the Delegates' Conference.

"Anyone hoping or planning to put the issue of Party leadership on the Agenda for this Delegates' Conference will have to wade through a minefield of quite difficult, possibly insurmountable, constitutional barriers; not the least of which is the need to give 21 days' notice for placing an issue on the agenda and the fact that the Leadership issue cannot be brought up in any event (barring a decision by two-thirds of the delegates to amend the Party Constitution) until after the Party Leader has held office for four years.

"This is all serious business, this running a country.

"People need to stop going into politics in Bermuda or anywhere else if the principal purpose of doing so is to have the means to maintain their mortgage payments, or because they like driving around in GP cars, or because they like to hobnob with the muck-de-mucks, or because it will give them an opportunity to convert 'power' into capital.

"Leadership must be about service, above all else.

"Those who seek to persuade us that they actually have something concrete to offer this community really do need finally to put up or shut up."

But Mr. Perinchief said the Annual General Conference is the supreme authority of the PLP and may suspend its own constitution.

"It would otherwise be an absurdity, an inflexibility, a nonsense and repugnant to the intent and/or spirit of the constitution if it allowed its operations to be 'hog-tied' by procedural shenanigans and subterfuges.

"This issue of the proper leadership of the PLP and our great country is bigger than you, me or Ewart Brown will ever be. In the fullness of time it is the people at large who will decide who will lead this country."

Dr.Brown's popularity has been on the slide with a September poll giving him performance approval ratings of just 18 percent.

Mr. Hall urged Dr. Brown to take his case to the Country, parish by parish, PLP branch by PLP branch.

"Dr Brown has made himself vulnerable to unjustified speculation as to his motives, his sincerity and his true purpose, particularly as regards his economic approach and the goal of economic empowerment.

"His detractors may be projecting their own shallow personalities in some cases, but in this process of 'death by a thousand cuts' they are proceeding on the well-tried basis that perception is reality and the unjustified perception that Brown is only about Brown is in danger of taking root.

"Taking his case to the branches, one by one, and to the Country – parish by parish – would be a good thing.

"It would dispel the myth that the Premier is simply arrogant and aloof and it might just result in a more democratic and transparent process in selecting delegates.

"The dirty PLP secret, as far as I am concerned, is that the delegate selection process is about as democratic and as transparent as the machinations of the College of Cardinals in the Vatican. So there. Let the games begin!"n

Mr Hall's statement in full – Page 4

Read Mr. Perinchief's full reply to Mr. Hall in tomorrow's The Royal Gazette.