Whatever their feelings about Mr. Furbert's departure, UBP MPs can't say they weren't warned.

The Hamilton Parish MP was blunt after last year's election defeat when he said the party would never win again unless it changed.

And in August he said he would quit if action wasn't taken. Four months on he has carried out that threat after feeling he is a voice in the wilderness.

It wasn't always that way, explains Mr. Furbert.

After the election he said new MPs Shawn Crockwell and Mark Pettingill approached him about the need for the party to reform if it was to win. They were joined by Donte Hunt, Darius Tucker and Trevor Moniz and the parliamentary group voted nine to four for change.

What followed was a report by the 'change committee', which Mr. Furbert branded useless, and the promotion of fellow reformers who have gradually fallen silent.

"In the latter stages I was the only person talking about change. The meetings were sporadic and people who should have been there hardly came."

His efforts to galvanise those change talks have been ignored, said Mr. Furbert, so he had no choice but to quit. Fellow reformers had been too worried that collapsing the UBP would help achieve Dr. Brown's stated goal of destroying the party, said Mr. Furbert.

"To me that is no reason to hold on to something when it is dying anyway."

Reformers also feared a split would lead to the Opposition being annihilated in a snap election.

"But I believe in standing up for what's right. If I am standing in the UBP's way I will remove myself and let them find themselves."

He said reformers had been elected to various party posts including Trevor Moniz becoming Deputy Leader. Now they were boasting about implementing procedural change.

"But it doesn't make a blip in getting people to vote for us."

He said when he challenged colleagues to name just three seats it thought the party could take from the PLP next time around they were silent. Mr. Furbert said: "I can't name one."

The party now risks losing Hamilton West next time around, said Mr. Furbert who added: "If an election was held tomorrow Kim Swan, Donte Hunt and Bob Richards are gone."

Blacks saw the UBP as a white party. "As long as the ball is in their court they are not going to hand it to the UBP for a very long time.

"There has been some procedural change but that won't get you one single vote because people vote from their heart, quite often it's an emotional thing, very little is from the head."

He said the UBP's formula of maximising the white vote and hoping to get enough blacks to win elections was not working anymore and would just see the party retain white seats but fail to snatch marginals.

Mr. Furbert has been criticised for talking about change but failing to offer specifics. Pressed on what he was proposing he said part of the party's problem is in personnel.

Election-winning individuals had been lined up to stand for a new party but they were not willing to stand under the UBP banner, he claimed. And Mr. Furbert boasted he had the best record since Sir John Swan of bringing blacks into the party.

Reformers had discussed changing some individuals not thought to be contributing much including Jon Brunson who later stepped down anyway. Grant Gibbons was also seen as a liability by some.

A new vision for the Country was needed said Mr. Furbert, but this had to come from the grass roots and the party also needed to change its name.

The party also needed to fight harder on open Government issues, although he credits colleague John Barritt for doing a lot already.

The Opposition also needed to work with Government more, rather than try to find a topic to attack it on during the motion to adjourn free-for-all debate at the end of the Parliamentary day, said Mr. Furbert.

"We have also got to be true to ourselves," said Mr. Furbert who voiced disgust the UBP had been slow to condemn the plans for a large pay rise for MPs.

He said one UBP MP had told the group: "Don't worry, the PLP will vote for it and we can have our cake and eat it too."

Mr. Furbert said: "To me that is hypocritical."

But he won't have to worry about their views now as he strikes out on his own. However he doesn't plan to be a one-man band forever.

He said the lessons of the recent Southampton West Central by-election had reiterated that independents had no chance in Bermuda politics.

"I will sit in Hamilton Parish as an independent but I will not run as an independent at the next election. My future is no longer in my hands. I am taking time out to look at the landscape, others will decide."

Asked if he would join the PLP he said: "All my decisions on where I go is based on further discussions with people in Hamilton Parish."