Former United Bermuda Party Minister Maxwell Burgess yesterday revealed he’s joined the Progressive Labour Party.Mr Burgess immediately tipped as a potential PLP candidate at the next general election told The Royal Gazette: “I’m committed to helping Premier Paula Cox in any and every way I can.”The former Transport Minister, a PLP branch chairman before being recruited to the UBP by Premier Sir John Swan in the early 1980s, declared his move a homecoming yesterday.“People have said welcome back home,” he said. “I don’t disbelieve for a minute that there will be some scepticism, but I would tell people I am here to help this Country. I would invite them to do the same.“I would invite any number of Bermudians to look at where we are; look at the lay of the land and then ask yourselves what is it, if anything, I can do to help. If you think you can help, get on with helping.”Mr Burgess would not comment on whether he’ll challenge for a seat in the House of Assembly.But he described himself as a man who makes things happen, and pointed out he had already agreed to serve on the Tourism Board.“We have got to get that pillar up and going as best we can expect in the 21st century,” he said.Mr Burgess was one of the UBP’s highest profile MPs, taking strong public stances on Independence and the McDonald’s row in a long political career as Senator and Parliamentarian.He was severely critical of his party in the months leading up to the 2007 general election, publicly calling for then-leader Wayne Furbert to quit and admitting it had a worse team than the ruling party.Yesterday, PLP sources named Mr Burgess as a likely election hopeful in Hamilton South, a traditional UBP seat he held between 2003 and 2007. That constituency is currently served by Darius Tucker, who quit the Opposition himself last year and is now an Independent.It’s thought Mr Burgess has enough local support to potentially upset the UBP in its stronghold, although some suggested he could take on his former ally Mr Furbert to try to represent the PLP in Hamilton West.Mr Furbert completed his own journey across the floor to join the PLP last March; the pair were running mates in Hamilton during their UBP days.Lawyer Charles Richardson and former Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith are other possible PLP contenders for Hamilton South; the UBP has already rolled out former MP Allan Marshall for that seat, with the Bermuda Democratic Alliance also expected to challenge.Mr Burgess became a UBP MP for Hamilton West in 1983, aged 29, and was Youth, Sport and Recreation Minister for a spell before losing his seat at the 1989 election.A year later he was appointed to the Senate, before winning his seat back in 1993 and being appointed Transport Minister.He was a strong supporter of Sir John’s failed bid for Independence in 1995 and the following year he teamed up with the Premier again in an unsuccessful effort to open a McDonald’s franchise which split the UBP.He lost his seat again when the PLP won power for the first time in 1998, before returning at the 2003 election in the newly created Hamilton South constituency.