Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Bermuda's deputy premier breaks ranks with leader
10-13-2006

HAMILTON, Bermuda (Reuters): Bermuda's Deputy Premier Ewart Brown resigned on Thursday, vowing to fight for the leadership of his party and tiny island nation.

Brown, 60, who quit as tourism and transport minister, broke ranks with 66-year-old Premier Alex Scott and said he would challenge him at a Progressive Labor Party conference at the end of the month.

Brown was part of a faction that forced out Premier Jennifer Smith in 2003, who had just led the center-left PLP to its second successive election win. The premiership was denied him, however, and he became deputy leader under compromise candidate Scott, who has since launched an unpopular drive to take the British mid-Atlantic territory to independence.

Brown said his record in government, built on "vision, strength, energy and resolve to get things done," included increasing tourist numbers and spending while bringing new air routes to the holiday haven more than 600 miles off the coast of North Carolina.

"I want to bring the same ... to the leadership of the Progressive Labor Party, and ultimately, to the leadership of Bermuda," he said.

He said he would reveal his platform ahead of the PLP conference on Oct. 27 when more than 100 delegates, along with 21 members of parliament and six senators, will vote on the party's leadership.

If defeated, Brown said he would retire from political life by the next Bermudan election, which must be held before 2008.

The PLP, which has picked up core support from blacks who make up the majority of the island's 63,000 residents, is leading in polls against the opposition United Bermuda Party, which ran Bermuda for 30 years until 1998.