Robert King, freshly deposed as Leader of the Opposition, described a sense of hurt and deception among members of the One Bermuda Alliance who supported his leadership bid against Ben Smith last September.

Mr King, who said he was told only on Wednesday that a group of fellow MPs signed a letter of no confidence that was delivered to the Governor, said he remained deeply stung by the move but added: “Some of the emotion I am experiencing will be put into getting the job done. I’m going to park it in a healthy place.”

Mr King, who became MP for Smith’s North (Constituency 10) in a 2024 by-election and technically remains leader of the OBA despite being pushed out as Opposition leader, spoke to The Royal Gazette ahead of a party caucus meeting tonight that he said might prove boisterous.

Asked about the party’s future, he said: “I’ll answer it this way: the membership voted in a leadership election according to the constitution, in full knowledge of what each candidate brought.

“A process was utilised to make a decision about leadership that did not include the membership.

“As I said previously, many who voted, party supporters and donors, have expressed outrage and feeling betrayed.”

Earlier, Mr King spoke more bluntly on the mood in the OBA over members’ feelings about the overturning of a leadership contest that he said enjoyed a formidable turnout after the previous Opposition leader, Jarion Richardson, stepped down from the role.

“They are pissed,” he said. “They are absolutely pissed, and they have expressed that they feel betrayed.”

Mr King said he felt he had been selected as a change-maker, as “somebody who is new to politics, who was successful in a by-election running against Sir John Swan, Bermuda’s longest-serving premier, and Lindsay Simmons [of the Progressive Labour Party], doing the same thing again in the General Election and then running for the leadership.

“What they saw and what they know about me — they looked at all that and said, you know what? We believe Robert King and the people he has with him, inside the party and outside, is exactly what this party needs.

“We’re talking about young and old members of the party, persons you would expect ordinarily to be satisfied with the status quo.

“Those were the people who asked me to run.”

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