A year after his dramatic exit from Cabinet, Terry Lister is planning to come back in the top job — and he wants to lead a Bermuda where everyone has a voice.

Because if 12 months on the sidelines has taught him one thing, it's that shutting people out of the decision-making process doesn't do anyone any good.

Just last week, as scores of angry protesters descended on the House of Assembly to jeer municipalities Minister Zane DeSilva over a bill many believed would kill the Corporation of Hamilton, was a case in point.

Anger over the legislation had grown during weeks of confusion while only a select few knew exactly what Government was planning to do to reform the two-century old Corporations.

Mayor Charles Gosling was repeatedly warning the legislation would strip City Hall of millions of dollars a year, leading to "death by financial strangulation", and little information was forthcoming from the other side.

Even backbenchers like Mr. Lister had no idea what the bill was really about until relatively late in the day; he was instrumental in causing it to stall at Progressive Labour Party caucus for a week so they could find out more.

In the end, people may wonder what the fuss was about — Mr. DeSilva says the municipalities may continue to collect ports and wharfage revenue anyway and both sides are now looking forward to working together to bring much-needed reform.

Mr. Lister says the bill could have faced much less opposition if handled differently.

"I think if the backbenchers really realised the changes that were being made to the legislation, as they were being made, it would have been easier to get full support from the backbenchers," he said.

"At this stage, having taken the bill to Parliament, having seen what's being done, I don't think there's a backbencher in our group who's still opposed. Everyone spoke for it; we didn't have a vote. There was no drama. Everyone spoke in favour of the bill because they have full support of the bill.

"It comes back to trying to get people to understand what you are doing clearly."

He was fired from Cabinet in July last year after publicly lambasting Premier Ewart Brown for trying to push his controversial cruise ship gaming bill through Parliament behind the backs of its backbench opponents.

"Being on the backbench for the last year has been beneficial for me as a leader," he said. "It's given me an impression of how backbenchers feel, how the parliamentary process isn't as inclusive as it could be.

"As Premier I will work very hard to include backbenchers on legislation as early as possible, to hear their ideas about what should be done to get them in the swing of things."

He continued: "More generally, in my administration it will be our goal to bring people together.

"I believe Bermuda belongs to born Bermudians, status Bermudians, those persons granted PRC status and those people here on legitimate work permits.

"Dividing up and splitting people in different directions to me is inappropriate and unnecessary. I want us to get to a point where all people feel they are part of Bermuda and Bermuda's success. I don't want people thinking it's not for me, young people left behind, people on permits feel they have no voice.

"That's not the Bermuda we want. We want people in the community to feel they can be part of the community."

Dr. Brown, who openly states he likes a battle, has waged public wars with the media and taxi drivers in particular.

Mr. Lister said: "I want to put that to bed. I want to put the taxi war to bed. I want all these things to end. There's no need to be out against the media or them against you.

"Over the next three or four months we will see how relationships go. If there are problems, we will talk about them."

Explaining his campaign's slogan "It's Bermuda's Turn", he said: "Rather than it being Terry's turn to be leader, or someone else's turn to be leader, it's really Bermuda's turn to be at the forefront of what we are doing.

"It's Bermuda's turn. We are not doing this for Terry or anyone else. I'm doing it for Bermuda.

"The style I wish to bring is a style that says we are listening all the time. It would be a failure for our Government if we found ourselves deeply embroiled in issues and people saying that isn't the issue that we want you to tackle."

Mr. Lister has a big challenge convincing grassroots PLP supporters of his credentials. Deputy Premier Paula Cox remains the hot favourite, with many party members having waited for years for her "coronation"; in the last Royal Gazette poll, 38 percent of people said they wanted Ms Cox to succeed Dr. Brown, 37 percent went for backbencher Dale Butler and just eight percent picked Mr. Lister.

But Mr. Lister believes his track record of making tough decisions in Cabinet will stand him in good stead.

He said of the poll results: "That's no concern to me at all. Dale has been out there since January, Ms Cox has been thought to be the next Premier for the last four years.

"I would expect them to have far more support in a poll than myself. I would expect the polls to turn in the coming weeks.

"Ultimately, it's the delegates. I will be doing a lot of work with them at the necessary time and I feel very confident.

"The actual delegates won't be known until mid September. People in key positions have been supportive, that's the main thing. I believe as summer progresses we will have more people stand up and support this campaign."