In 1969, Ewart Brown and Phil Perinchief stood shoulder to shoulder on the steps of City Hall, resisting Police attempts to move them on, as they called for Bermuda to change.

Forty years later the pair are poles apart, as Mr. Perinchief says his former ally is a changed man — who has lost touch with their shared goals and even Bermuda itself. Dr. Brown appointed Mr. Perinchief as Attorney General in late 2006 only to sack him and a host of others a year later.

"It's not so much what you do, it's how you do it," said Mr. Perinchief recalling the bitter, final split.

Mr. Perinchief had returned to work after the December election and was at his desk in the Attorney General's chambers on the Thursday morning when he was tipped off someone else was being appointed to his post later that day.

"He didn't call me, I called him to confirm this fact. His response was 'Well yeah man, I decided to go in a different direction and I decided to make someone else up'.

"When I asked if it 'would have been nice to have let me know a bit earlier than today since you are only hours away from making the appointment' he said, 'Well, I reached out for you man but I couldn't get you'.

"I said 'Well you seemed to have gotten me numerous times at 3, 4 and 5 a.m. in the morning. My BlackBerry doesn't show you tried on voicemail so perhaps we should have had a meeting and discuss, at least, your method, even though you don't need to change your decision'."

At that final meeting, Mr. Perinchief was told he argued too much with Cabinet colleagues to which Mr. Perinchief replied that he would never shirk from expressing his opinion, so perhaps it was best to part company.

Mr. Perinchief advised the Premier that his move to scrap the Ministry of Justice and give himself responsibility for the judiciary, legislature and the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) was unconstitutional and would look like a move towards a dictatorship with the executive, judiciary and legislature all in one office.

The idea was quickly dropped.

The method of sacking, more than the sacking itself is revealing, said Mr. Perinchief. "It speaks to his character — many take the view he's quite insensitive to people's positions in life."

Asked why the Premier behaved that way, he said: "I don't think it's outside of his character generally but it has probably been compounded by his experiences in the United States.

"I think Ewart fails to make a distinction between a 'home boy' from the US and an 'ace boy' from Bermuda. I think Ewart is out of step and has been for sometime with the pulse and culture of Bermuda and his autocratic corporate America approach to social matters reflects that.

"He's more about pop and sizzle, glitz and glitter and gala events as opposed to directing far more energy to more substantive matters such as truly housing people."

Mr. Perinchief knows people will accuse him of sour grapes as he calls for Dr. Brown to go. But he says: "I am not here because of the Premier sacking me. I am simply here because the Premier needs to move on or be moved on and that I am an ardent PLP supporter and shall remain so."

Which is why he won't stand by and watch anyone move the party away from its core values.

He said the housing policy under Ewart Brown is targeting middle to upper middle class for help rather than those with lower incomes who need it most. They are pushed off into emergency housing, said Mr. Perinchief.

Mr. Perinchief said it was time interest rates were set by the Ministry of Finance in conjunction with the Bermuda Monetary Authority to make it easier for people to manage mortgages.

And he said it might be necessary to have a capital-gains tax or corporation tax.

Even if they paid just a tiny fraction of their income in a billion dollar economy it could ease the burden on the poor so much that other taxes such as payroll tax and import duties could be lowered or abolished, said Mr. Perinchief, who believes poverty is fuelling Bermuda's high crime rates.

Asked if the party was taking for granted its core voters, he said: "It's far deeper than that.

"We have a Premier who has taken the PLP far from its working class roots and really he sees Bermuda through an elitist perspective. All his programmes are geared to an elitist direction."

He said the Premier had been sitting for 18 months on a poverty study because it was a political bombshell likely to reveal that between 25 and 30 percent of the population fell below the poverty line. "The political fall-out from that is an indictment of the fact that this Progressive Labour Party under Ewart has not dealt with fundamentally changing an economy that is largely merchant or entrepreneurial in nature and has been since 1620."

He said Dr. Brown had convinced those who installed him that he was going to make fundamental change to tackle inequalities — only to do nothing for those struggling to make ends meet.

"Fast ferries are all very nice but they don't put bread on the table or house people or take care of medical benefits. Those are the things he should have addressed his energies to."

This week two senior PLP figures, under conditions of anonymity, said a leadership contest could be called by October or even sooner as the party sought to reverse the damage from Dr. Brown's declining popularity.

The Premier responded by claiming on a sympathetic radio station that this paper had embarked on a smear campaign. Mr. Perinchief responded: "Phil Perinchief is not used by anyone, certainly not The Royal Gazette. But then Phil Perinchief is not used by Ewart Brown either."

As Attorney General he had taken the fight to the Privy Council to gag the press from revealing elements from the leaked BHC police files.

Mr. Perinchief knows many believe this was done to protect Dr. Brown and others — but it's a theory he vehemently denies.

"Nothing is further from the truth. As Attorney General I had the invidious task of balancing the protection and integrity of Police investigations against the freedom of the Press, which should not be unlimited. If I had to do it again as Attorney General, under whatever administration, be it UBP or PLP, I would do it again."

A firm supporter of Independence, Mr. Perinchief said Dr. Brown needed to go before Bermuda looked at the issue of sovereignty.

"Unless and until — and I don't think he's capable — he changes his autocratic and unpredictable style of leadership then I don't think it will be the safe thing to do — and I am an ardent believer of Independence."

Mr. Perinchief also accused the Premier of being "autocratic" and "insensitive" in how he deals with the Civil Service.

"He's reaching into the Civil Service — putting pressures on both the head of the Civil Service and the Cabinet Secretary," he claimed. "These are areas that ought to be left autonomous."

He declined to give examples in order not to breach confidentiality but added: "He does apply these pressures."

He said ministers were supposed to formulate policy and the Civil Service was there to carry it out.

"When you have a reaching over into the administration of those policies through those Government departments then you have political interference into the administration."

Attacking what he termed the Premier's 'impetuous' nature, Mr. Perinchief said: "In my view, many of the people the Premier removed in the last election were persons who had installed him."

Sacked Works and Engineering Minister Dennis Lister and axed Culture and Community Affairs Minister Wayne Perinchief had been open supporters of Dr. Brown, only to get the boot.

"When one drills down to it, Ewart hasn't played his hand very well at all, simply because Ewart's view of the world is if he surrounds himself with too many intelligent and talented people who have expertise over and beyond his own, his own talents may pale in comparison and he will no longer be the shining light.

"Because what you must understand is that, although he may not admit it openly, Ewart revels in the limelight, as being the only one worth listening to or making a contribution.

"And he certainly doesn't want any competition, so he will have a tendency for those colleagues who begin to shine or rise, he sees that as a threat to his supremacy, as opposed to a leader who should actually welcome those kinds of proclivities because in fact they would strengthen him as a leader.

"He ought to have had the foresight to see that his longevity would have been far more enhanced by keeping such people around and close to him rather than jettisoning them."